The Nobody of Remnant
by RoxaShadow
Summary: Just as Riku prepares to capture Roxas and return him to Sora, the Nobody escapes to a world he has never seen before, the world of Remnant. There he will encounter the challenges of Remnant's Grimm and the underlying evil threatening to destroy the long established peace brought on by the four kingdoms. Will he finally be able to make a difference? Or will he forever be a Nobody?
1. Chapter 1: Escape to Remnant

His body trudged forward in a sluggish manner, his shoulders drooped and his arms hung limp at his sides. His weapon the Oblivion dangled precariously from his loose grip, the tip of the dark keyblade dragging through the dirt as he walked.

His body ached and groaned from exhaustion, his feet and legs both in a constant silent plea for their owner to stop, to sit and lean against one of the many trees he passed on his journey through this seemingly endless forest.

Roxas was more tired than he had ever been before in his life. His magic supply depleted and his body still recovering from his last battle not 15 minutes ago. The entire day he had been fighting large dark representations of common creatures he'd encountered on other worlds, mostly massive black bear-like monsters with a tough gray armor coating the outer parts of their body.

He had deduced that these were this world's equivalent of heartless from the way they dissipated after being slain. Never before had he seen a heartless take on such a detailed yet fragile form before.

Just as this thought crossed his mind, he heard a deep growl emanate from the tree line on his right.

His tired eyes shifted and met the glowing red eyes of the wolf-like heartless only a few feet away baring its sharp white fangs

"...Fantastic…" he grumbled just as the beast lunged at him.

Instinct took over as energy surged forward that Roxas didn't know he still had. His feet sidestepped to the left avoiding the oncoming claws as his arm brought down the keyblade on the back of the creature's neck as it passed. The monster's head rolled a couple times before being halted by a tree, a few seconds later the limp corpse and severed head began to dissipate into black particles rising into the sky.

Roxas took a few moments to observe this process, mostly due to the fatigue his body was having as he had already witnessed this black rising dust over a hundred times today.

The only reason he didn't succumb to the exhaustion was because he had no place safe to properly rest. If he sat down for a half hour to get a good nap in he was certain that one of these never ending monsters would attack when he was unconscious. He would have summoned a dark corridor to leave had it not been for his magic being completely depleted to the point the he was sure he had strained something just summoning the portal to get to this place.

"...Boy an elixir would be great right about now...:" He mumbled to himself.

Just then he heard what sounded like distant voices out somewhere deeper in the forest. His eyes widened at this, he'd not seen or heard any signs of civilization or even people at all during his long trek through these woods. In the back of his head he'd started to believe that this whole world consisted of nothing but thick woods and heartless.

He took off in a sprint, or at least, the best his body could do to imitate what a sprint should look like in his tired state. His legs awkwardly shuffling as quickly as they could as he headed in the direction of the shouting.

He didn't plan to actually confront whoever he found, the first thing he had been taught in the organization was to stay clear of people, but maybe he could tail them until they led him to place where he could finally get some rest.

A shout of pain escaped his lips as he was flung forward and into the trunk of a tree. He arose slowly only to find a group of bear-like heartless awaiting him. The lead heartless and who he assumed had been the one to provide him with the quickly forming bruise running along his back roared, triggering the group of five to charge.

Roxas met the lead one halfway, burying his keyblade into the beast's side and then dragging it down the rest of the way. It collapsed to the ground as he pulled the blade out of the dark gash left from his efforts. Just as he did so the next heartless rose onto its back legs demonstrating its massive stature and swiped one of its impressive paws at the Nobody. Roxas responded by diving underneath the arm and towards the monster's feet, once there he pushed off the ground in a massive leap slashing his blade up through the belly and torso of the beast in one long swipe.

The heartless collapsed almost immediately from its wounds but another quickly took its place. Before Roxas could touch the ground he felt a claw catch his side and send him barreling into a tree as he shouted out from the pain. He crumpled to the ground as his injuries and fatigue were finally taking their toll.

He shakily stood up, using the oblivion for support and barely had enough time to deflect an oncoming set of massive claws with his keyblade. Being already off balance the blow sent him stumbling to the ground where this time he could not find the strength to rise again.

His tired eyes watched as the figures of the remaining three heartless stood over his body, all of which roared and bore their teeth as they did so. One lifted its massive arm with claws ready to deliver the final blow as Roxas's half shut eyes just stared with quiet resignation.

I guess this'll be saving the organization some trouble…

Suddenly, a booming sound echoed throughout the treeline as a bullet exploded out of the side of the creature's head. It collapsed with a loud thud as the the others faced the direction of the bullet.

They looked just as stunned as he was.

Not three seconds later a second bullet found its mark within the skull cavity of the heartless standing at the foot of Roxas's tired form, it fell in a similar manner to the first. The last remaining Heartless roared ferociously before charging in the direction of where the shots had been fired from. Before it could get too far Roxas saw a blood red blur intercept the beast and embed what looked like a large mechanical scythe into the creature's neck.

The last thing Roxas saw as his eyes began to slowly shut due to exhaustion was slowly falling rose petals and the crunching noise of feet running towards him.

* * *

Roxas awoke to the warmth and sound of a crackling fire. He opened his eyes to see that the sky was black and the moon held high in the sky. He slowly sat up still groggy from his nap and as he turned he noticed a girl sitting close to the fire wearing a long sleeved thick black blouse with a high collar and red trim on the sleeves. Her eyes were staring into the fire and her knees were pulled up to her chest as she sat patiently.

He saw her notice that he was awake and watched as she nervously stammered "H-hey! How are you feeling? You okay?" she quickly got to her feet and helped Roxas stand up. His arms and legs still ached, but he could feel that at least some of his energy had returned.

"I'm fine," he responded, brushing off his black coat and wiping away debri that had gathered on his gloves and boots. He turned and scanned the immediate area around them; no one else in sight "Was it... you who helped me?" he asked.

She smiled and nodded enthusiastically "Yeah that was me and my baby!" with a flourish she pulled out what looking like a small rectangular box from behind her waist which quickly transformed into the scythe he had seen earlier "I heard your shouts and came running, I figured that you might need my help and that maybe you'd want to be my partner if you did."

He stared blankly at her for a moment, not knowing exactly what she meant "Thank you for saving me... but I don't know what you mean by me wanting to be your partner."

Her smile quickly turned into a frown and her tone shifted from cheerful to disappointed "Oh… I'm sorry… I just figured since you were all alone that you needed a partner for the exams, I guess you already made eye contact with someone else and you two just got separated or something… and now it's probably too late for me to find anyone else since it's dark out." as she spoke her head and shoulders drooped.

Roxas stared at the girl's frown for several seconds, something about this girl… reminded him of someone and he instantly decided to try and cheer her up "Hey," he said getting her to look back up "I may not know what you're talking about with this partner business, but you did just save my life. If I can help you in any way please tell me." he knew he was going against the rules set in place by the organization, but seeing as he was no longer a part of their organization he presumed it wouldn't be so bad to break some rules.

"You don't know what I'm talking about…? You don't remember Ozpin telling all of us about the rules of picking our partners?" she gave him an inquisitive stare.

He shook his head and began "I think you might be confusing me with-"

Before he could finish she blurted out "Did you hit your head or something? When I found you you did look pretty banged up. What do you remember?"

Roxas started to speak before stopping himself. He didn't know anything about this world aside from the trees and variants of heartless that it contained. He didn't know if he could come up with a convincing enough story without sounding like he didn't belong. Although he wasn't dead set on following the organization's rules anymore, it didn't seem wise to open with 'yeah I opened a corridor from another world to escape here from an organization who wants me dead now that I betrayed them, that and there is a silver haired boy who apparently wants me dead as well.'As he thought this he reflected back to that strange event leading to this place.

He recalled how the silver haired boy had referred to him as Sora, he recalled him transforming into an older man, one with a darkness that Roxas was caught off guard by. He remembered how draining the darkness was as it gripped him tightly, how he just barely managed to break out at the last second before losing consciousness, slashing wildly with both keyblades to buy him the few seconds he needed to summon a corridor and escape. He hadn't had the time to think of a specific world to go to, the only thought he had formed before creating the corridor was 'far away from here'.

It had brought him here as a result. Tired and drained of his energy and magic seemingly from what that darkness had been doing to him, but at least safe from that man for the time being.

Roxas realized he must have been silently thinking for quite a while as the girl waved her hand in front of his face calling out "Heeey, you there? Sheesh you must have really banged your head hard if you're this spaced out."

"Sorry," he exclaimed "I was just trying to remember is all. Maybe I did hit my head since I can't seem to remember too much." he said trying to sound friendly. He was in a tough position still, while he was a little rested, he still didn't have a clue as to where he was or where any aspect of civilization was. He could leave via dark corridor, but he didn't know of any worlds that the organization didn't know of already, they would track him down in an instant. He wanted to stay, at least for a little bit, and in order to do that he needed to find somewhere where there were people. If he stayed he needed to go along with this girl until she lead him to somewhere he could set up a base of operations safely; otherwise he would be stuck in this forest until he found himself collapsing again.

"Do you remember your name?"

"Yes, my name is Roxas," responding to her growing smile with his own. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but she definitely felt like a friend of his for some reason.

She stuck out her hand smiling brightly "Well my name is Ruby, Ruby Rose! It's nice to meet you Roxas! Maybe we'll have someone take a look at your head when we get back to the academy, see if they can help ya,"

He shook her hand and responded"Maybe,"

While he wasn't keen on going to this academy she mentioned, he definitely wanted to know more about this world. He had never seen this world before, never been sent on a mission here and as far as he knew none of the other organizations members ever made mention of the place, he definitely would have heard it from someone had they encountered the same heartless he had so far. New types of heartless were generally recorded in their data base as to better prepare members for their upcoming missions and he had never seen any of the ones he was encountering so far. Maybe that meant that this world had been left untouched and unknown by organization 13.

Maybe that means I'll be safe from the Organization here...

* * *

By the time the two had made their way to the academy Ruby had told him was called 'Beacon' the sun had begun to creep over the horizon. Roxas was astonished at the sight of the school as it appear to resemble a massive medieval castle over any learning institution he could imagine. As they made their way down the long stone walkway to the front entrance Roxas knew he was drained and could tell from Ruby's slow sluggish steps that she was tired from the walk too.

The Trek was difficult for Roxas to say the least. He didn't struggle fighting off the Heartless who he'd come to find out were called Grimm in this world. Ruby and he were more than a match for any rogue Grimm that came their way. Both were equally impressed with the other's he found difficult were the lulls in excitement in between each battle. She wanted to know about him, about his weapon and where he learned to fight along with several over facts pertaining to his life. He stuck closely to the head injury excuse, telling her that he couldn't remember no matter how hard he tried. He got the feeling that this girl was really trying hard to make a friend out of him from how much she shared in regards to her family namely her sister Yang who he was told he would meet in the school.

As they entered the school all heads turned to look at them. It seemed morning classes were just about to start so the halls were filled with students. It wasn't long before the newly arrived duo were approached by a middle aged woman wearing white long-sleeved pleated top and a black high-waisted skirt. She bore an aura of authority as she walked up to the two, and from the way Ruby responded Roxas gathered that she was important.

"Ruby Rose," the woman spoke "You spent all night to complete the challenge and-" she looked to both of Ruby's empty hands "Even failed to return with the artifact Ozpin instructed you and all the students to find. What happened?"

Ruby began to stammer in her efforts to explain herself "W-well you see Roxas here was hurt and I wasn't strong enough move him by myself and I didn't think it was safe for me to go and look for anyone else with him out cold and then-"

"Okay, okay." The woman raised her hand in a gesture to tell Ruby to stop "I'm sure you had your reasons. Ozpin has requested to speak to you. Both, of you." as she said this she turned to Roxas, eyeing him suspiciously "I don't know who you are young man but you better mind your manners. Under normal circumstances we would just turn away a stranger like you. Ozpin must have good reason to meet with you in person."

Ruby looked between the two confused "What? Wait he's a part of the freshman sent into the Emerald forest right? I mean I know I don't remember seeing him there but…" Ruby turned and looked at Roxas confused "Right?"

Roxas quietly shook his head "I'm sorry."

Ruby looked hurt, and Roxas didn't like it. Before he could say anything to remedy the situation the middle aged lady who Roxas would later come to know as Glynda Goodwitch interrupted "I'll escort you two to Ozpin's office now, please follow me."

* * *

The office was spacious with a large desk towards the back positioned in front of what looked like a large balcony. The man sitting at the desk held a calm demeanor, peering over at Roxas over his dark glasses.

A smile crept along his face as the three approached "Thank you Glynda For bringing these two to me. You can continue now with your prior tasks."

The woman nodded in response before turning and leaving out of the same exit they had come in from, leaving Roxas and Ruby to stand awkwardly side by side staring at Ozpin.

"Hello Ruby," The silver haired man said with a friendly smile.

"Hi," Ruby said with a quiet wave.

"And hello young man, I don't believe we have been properly acquainted." he leaned into his hand cupping his chin and resting its weight on the desk.

"I am Roxas."

"I see, and I also see you have made a friend of my young student Ruby here, should I be under the impression that you two met in the forest?"

Ruby nodded "I found him fighting off some Ursa by himself and jumped in to help. He passed out afterwards though so naturally I had to wait till he was okay again. He hit his head I think so he doesn't remember much though. But we made it back alright! "

Ozpin nodded still smiling faintly "Well done Ruby, I understand now why you were late completing my test. Let me just reassure you now that you passed with flying colors. You demonstrated true characteristics of a Huntress by protecting this young man. Well done Ruby."

Ruby's smile beamed as she stood proud of herself. Roxas smiled too. He was glad she was feeling better after the exchange downstairs.

Ozpin continued "Now Ruby you do have classes to attend to as it is still the first day of school. I will excuse you for the classes you've missed of course as I called you up here but you shouldn't dawdle. Besides, I would like to talk to your friend for a bit."

Ruby nodded "Okay! I'm off to class! Can't wait to tell Yang about all of this… bye!" with a small wave to Roxas and Ozpin the girl entered the elevator before pressing what looked to Roxas like all the buttons. The door shut.

Ozpin Chuckled briefly before addressing the young man in front of him "So Roxas, I'll get down to what I really want to know. Who exactly are you?"

"Huh? I um hit my head like Ruby said… I don't remember much." Roxas responded trying to act confused.

"Oh? Is that right? Well I saw how well you did in the forest using that strange looking weapon of yours. Do you remember where you learned to fight like that?"

Roxas shook his still not sure how to answer that "I don't know. "

Ozpin expressed an outward sigh at the boy's response "So you're telling me that you remember absolutely nothing at all?"

Roxas nodded "I'm sorry,"

Ozpin simply nodded before he pressed a key on his desk and out popped as hologram of what looked like video footage of the same forest he and Ruby had just escaped from. It was taken at angle above, possible from the top of a large tree. Nothing happened for a few seconds, a few leaves rustled from the wind, the sound of grimm scurrying about. Suddenly a dark flame erupted from the forest floor, the corridor organization members utilized to get around. Not seconds later Roxas came bursting out of the portal with it closing behind him immediately after.

Roxas remembered those seconds just after he had entered this world for the first time. On his hands and knees panting from the exhaustion of barely escaping the grips of that silver haired boy who wore the same black coat as he.

"I had that forest installed with cameras nearly everywhere to watch over my students as they went through the trial. I had to make sure none of them were too seriously injured. You can imagine my surprise when I saw you for the first time."

Roxas nodded, wide eyed in disbelief.

"So, I ask again Roxas. Who are you? Where are you from? I don't believe that you don't remember, I believe that you don't want to say."

Roxas remained quiet for several seconds. He was nervous but not scared. The tone in the man's voice felt serious, but not hostile by any means.

Roxas said in a low voice "I… I'm kinda on the run from some people."

Roxas decided to partially tell the truth. There were people trying to kill him, and he was on the run along with other goals.

"Who are these people chasing you?"

"They are people like me. They wear coats like the one I'm wearing."

Ozpin paused, his eyes narrowing to a thin slit. Roxas knew that the man wanted a better answer than that, but he was unwilling to give it. Ozpin's face relaxed as Roxas assumed he understood.

"Did they train you to do what you did out in that forest? From what I can tell, you exhibit skills of that of a Huntsman."

Roxas shrugged "They kinda trained me. Not really though, and I'm sorry but I don't know what a Huntsman is honestly."

Ozpin's eyebrows scrunched in confusion "You don't know what a Huntsman is? Where are you from?"

Roxas shook his head "I'm... not from around here…"

"Hmmm…" Ozpin appeared deep in thought "You don't know what a Huntsman is, would you like to find out?"

"Huh?"

Ozpin chuckled "This school is meant to train students into Huntsmans and huntresses, people capable of protecting the good folks of remnant from those who would wish to do harm. It sounds like people similar to those who are after you."

Roxas remained quiet, only delivering a small nod to indicate he was indeed listening.

Ozpin paused a moment before asking "Why are they chasing you?"

"...because I left. Anyone who leaves the Organization will be hunted down."

"Hmmm…" Ozpin sat inquisitively, his interest rising "Such a young man to be in such a serious dilemma… I am willing to help you if you're willing to accept it."

"How?"

"I can enroll you as a student of Beacon academy," as he said this he gestured to the room and by extension the school.

"Why would I want that?... Why would you want that?" Roxas asked honestly. He knew he would learn about this new world from attending a school based around it, but he could tell that this place wasn't the average school he'd seen before on his missions to Twilight town.

"Well attending Beacon Academy will train you to be a capable Huntsman with skills that may aid you in dealing with these people who are after you. I told you that I saw what you were able to do to those Grimm out there, and if these people really are like you I can imagine that they are definitely a serious threat. Not to mention you will have the protection of the entirety of Beacon's faculty and I assure you that we are very capable of defending ourselves. "

Roxas paused, replaying Ozpin's words in his mind as he considered the thought.

A place to stay… a place to hide… somewhere I wouldn't stand out or draw attention to myself with my abilities...

Roxas found a single question rushing to mind lips "And what's in it for you?"

Ozpin's smile brightened "I'm always looking for talent in the world of Remnant. You are definitely talented from what I saw. Not to mention as a Huntsman I would not be doing my job if I did not help you with your problem. And lastly you are intriguing, like with many of my students I think I'd like to see how you mature into a Huntsman."

Roxas only nodded in response, thinking over what he should do.

"So Roxas, do you accept my offer? You will be provided for here along with given a dorm and proper materials so that you may succeed at my school. What you do from there however will be up to you."

Roxas took a few seconds to think it over. He did want to learn about this world and why it had never been touched by the organization before. There wasn't anything saying that he had to stay if he chose against the idea later. He had no place to go either, he had been wondering before he fought the boy with the silver hair for something that would help him succeed in his goal. Was this what he had been looking for?Who knows? Maybe he would be able to learn something that could help him face Xemnas and the organization. Then he would finally make things right again. He decided he would leave as soon as he decided he didn't need this place anymore, as soon as he knew he was strong enough he would go.

With a deep breath, Roxas came to his answer " I accept."

* * *

Author's note: Hello readers! Thank you for reading through the first chapter I've written in quite a while. That probably means that littered throughout this chapter are many grammatical errors as well as a few spelling errors and I sincerely apologize for that. I do not have a beta reader for this story, so if anyone is feeling up for the task, please contact me with a PM!

Regardless I hope you enjoyed, if you did please review! If you didn't, still review! I appreciate both positive and negative criticism! It helps motivate me to write the next chapter. I will respond to any and all reviews via a PM or review corner in the following chapter.


	2. Chapter 2: The First Day

These… are a lot of books

Roxas thought as he sat at the desk provided in his new dorm. He had been told he would be acquainted with his new dorm mates later but they were in class at the moment. He thought to ask why he didn't have to go to class, but he supposed he could simply go tomorrow. He did feel like he had to do a bit of catching up.

He just didn't expect there to be this much.

As he sat staring at the multiple thick books towering over his head he began to question

Just what have I gotten myself into?

* * *

The rest of the day consisted of Roxas doing his best to read through just the social studies book provided to him. He laid on his back, choosing the furthest bed on the left as his own and noting just how much more comfortable these beds were in comparison to those at the organization. The book was held high above his head as he scanned the words, line after line, learning about Grimm and their effects on the great wars; Faunas and their impact on society, social movements along with massive technological leaps that the four kingdoms worked together to achieve.

Hours passed before he heard a quiet knock on the door. Roxas turned his head from the contents of the book and noticed that the evening sun was casting its light through the window in the center of the room. He quickly realized just how much time must have past as he saw a familiar face poke her head through the crack in the door.

"Hi!" Waved the black haired girl by the name of Ruby as she entered the room carrying the rest of her belongings in a rolling bag behind her.

Roxas slowly waved back with questions visible in his eyes "Are you... staying here?"

"Ozpin told me that since we did technically see each other first in the trial that you and I are pairs."

"What?... You mean for the team's thing you mentioned before right?" he said slowly setting down the book on the bedside beside him.

Ruby sat down on the bed across from him saying "Yeah, though I was told that teams are supposed to be four members, not two… so maybe we'll be getting another pair in here soon?"

"Is… is that normal?"

Ruby shrugged "I dunno, I doubt it. Apparently there was another pair who couldn't find two more to team up with during the trials. So maybe we'll team up with them?"

"Okay." Roxas didn't truly care one way or another. He was completely fine with anyone he worked alongside as long as they weren't as rude as Larxene or Xigbar were on their missions together.

A sudden silence filled the room as Roxas had nothing else to say on the matter and Ruby seemed to have nothing to add as well. Roxas watched as the girl began to pat her hands on the edge of the bed to a rhythm that he wasn't familiar with. Her eyes wandered around the room and eventually fell on the stack of books placed at his bedside.

In all honesty Roxas just wanted to lie back and finish the book he had been reading. While the contents weren't particularly interesting with how the events were told, he was nearing the end of the historical text and he thought it would be good to finish as he had a lot of catching up to do if the students here already knew all of this. However, he didn't know if that would be considered rude to ignore this girl to read a textbook. He decided to think of something to say.

"So do you like them?"

"Did you read all of those?"

They spoke at the same time, layering over each other's words.

"Huh?" they said in unison.

Ruby answered first as she deciphered in her head what he had asked "Oh the people that we might group up with?"

Roxas nodded.

Ruby shrugged for a second time "I actually have no clue who we might pair up with. I didn't really make too many friends on my first day here so I don't actually know anybody haha... I was hoping I would be able to pair up with my sister… but she's already got her team formed."

Roxas was having a difficult time responding, he wasn't used to so much social interaction, the most he was used to was casual conversation in between long silences of eating sea salt ice cream. She sounded somewhat bummed so he opted to go with an apology "Oh, um… sorry to hear that?"

"Oh it's fine," she said with a smile, making a gesture with her hand that he need not apologize "She's always been the social butterfly so it makes sense that she found a team so easily. Besides, she told me that I ought to find other people to make friends with… and you know what? So far I have!" as she finished her statement she gave Roxas a playful punch.

"Oh… thanks. You too." Roxas did his best to smile. Although he was flattered by the compliment, he was increasingly hoping that something would interrupt them. He wanted to stay in good standing with his new team mate and was somewhat worried that he risked doing something rude the longer they talked.

I really need to study up on social interactions more…

He thought this he saw her point to the stack of books at his bedside "Are you trying to read those already?"

He turned and looked at them as well "Uh no, well sorta but I haven't," He lifted the one he had set down when she came in. It talked about the long history of Remnant and how the world and four nations were formed "Well yeah, I've only really finished this one so far. I've got a lot of catching up to do." he said with a sigh.

"What do you mean? These are the textbooks we're supposed to read over the entire semester, I haven't even touched mine yet." she said with a slight giggle.

His eyes widened " You mean I didn't have to read this thing at all?" he said lifting the textbook.

Ruby looked like she was trying to contain her laughter "Nope, though it looks like…" she craned her head to read the title of the book in his hand "You'll be acing our social studies class hehe."

Roxas groaned as he tossed the book back to the pile and fell back on his bed, arms outstretched in a sign of exhaustion. He had only begun reading under the impression that all the students already knew this, or at least it was expected to know this. He had thought it was like the debriefings he had always been given just before being sent out to a mission. Read the materials before entering the terrain.

Roxas shook his head at his own misunderstanding before turning to see Ruby's laughter. It was pleasant and gave him the strangest sense of deja vu as he watched her. He couldn't quite put his finger on it…

Abruptly there was another knocking at the door. Both Ruby and Roxas turned their head to see a blonde haired boy with blue eyes enter the room.

"Jaune?"Ruby asked

"Oh hi Ruby!" he said with a bright tone "I'm so glad it was you. I was worrying on my walk up here that we would be paired with some snob."

"Who's we?" Roxas asked as he could tell that someone else was standing just behind Jaune, blocked from view by the door. Although he didn't really mind who he had to work with, he was still curious as to who it was going to be.

"Oh sorry!" The teen said as he stepped to the side, allowing a young woman with vibrant red hair and emerald eyes to step forward.

'Hello!" She said with a bright smile and a friendly wave 'I am Pyrrha Nikos, nice to meet you!"

Ruby returned the greeting with the same level of politeness, smiling as she did so "Hello! I think I saw you before before the trials!"

"I think I remember you." she retorted before turning her attention to Roxas "And you are…? I don't think I saw you before Emerald forest."

Roxas shook his head "That's because I wasn't around… I'm sort of a… special case I guess."

Pyrrha nodded understandingly "Oh okay, That's fine. I'm just happy to have a team finally. I was worried when Jaune and I couldn't find anyone else to join our pair."

She seemed to have a very positive and polite attitude that Roxas found pleasant. He could tell that she carried herself with a sense of pride and confidence that he didn't see with the other students. Especially Jaune who slouched and stood off balanced beside her, he looked unimpressive in comparison.

Roxas briefly questioned to himself why he was so quick to draw that comparison. He rested on the conclusion that it may have been due to the majority of organization Thirteen carrying themselves with a sense of confidence and purpose, aside from maybe Demyx. This was the first time he got to see how other, normal people truly behaved, how kids his age seemed to act.

He found it somewhat bizarre.

"So tell me about What happened during your trial! I couldn't really explore the forest like I wanted to because I had to help Roxas, but I'm curious if any of the rumors going around are true!" Squealed Ruby as she rolled over to the other side of the bed to better face the new acquaintances.

Jaune and Pyrrha both began walking over to their beds as they started to answer Ruby's question. They carried luggage bags similar to what Ruby had carried in stirring the thought in Roxas that he really didn't have anything else but the coat and clothing he was wearing provided by the organization.

"Well," Jaune began in a dramatic tone as he began to lay out his belongings on the bed, seemingly getting situated "As we were venturing bravely into a deep, dark cave in search for the Relic; Our only torch suddenly went out out with no warning, shrouding us in total darkness."

"He fell and dropped it," Pyrrha interjected.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune turned to her quickly putting his finger to his lips "Shhh!"

Ruby let out a small laugh she quickly stifled as Jaune began again.

"Anywaaay, We continued fearlessly through the dark until we came upon a golden object of a devious nature. I held it my hands for a short time, but it had been a brilliantly clever trap set by a Grimm whose nature was far wiser than any other there have been before or since."

Both Ruby and Roxas turned their heads in unison to Pyrrha for the real story.

She smiled, pushing down a laugh as she said " He accidently grabbed onto the tail of a death stalker and hung onto it as it chased me out."

Roxas couldn't resist the grin spreading across his face as Ruby began to laugh. Jaune protested Pyrrha's honesty as she apologized in the polite manner she carried herself with.

As he stared upon his teammates , all of which were laughing now as Jaune finally dropped the act and started to laugh at himself too Roxas began to think

Maybe this won't be so bad after all…

* * *

The group of four were called to Ozpin's office before the sun set that day. Roxas felt somewhat awkward with the group as they made their way there. He noticed that the others were all wearing the school uniform while he was still sporting his usual black coat.

He didn't like standing out.

They stepped out of the elevator and found Ozpin staring out of the window situated behind the desk. He looked deep in thought, but that look quickly washed away as he turned to the group and address them all with the familiar friendliness he had exhibited from the chat between he, Roxas and Ruby.

"Hello Pyrrha, Jaune, Ruby and Roxas. I apologize for pulling you all away from your new dorm, but seeing how your team has been formed under rather unorthodox methods, I thought it best to initialize you myself."

"I was wondering about that actually," Pyrrha spoke up "I saw all the other freshman students aside from that one go up and get assigned their teams and teams names."

"Yeah I remember feeling so awkward as everyone went up but us." Jaune added.

Ozpin nodded and said "I apologize for that discomfort. Unfortunately Ruby and Roxas were both still out in the field. However now that I have you all together I feel I should give you your team name and elect the leader as I was meant to do before.'

Roxas saw the faces on his team mates all light up. He could tell they were eager to find out what their name would be.

"You four shall be called team PRJR, pronounced Purger." as he said this the screen from his desk lit up the letters PRJR "-and your leader shall be…"

There seemed to be a deliberate pause to Ozpin words as if he knew they were eagerly awaiting his decision. He let the silence fill the room before restarting the statement "Your team leader will be Jaune Arc." He turned to the boy whose face read shock "Congratulations young man."

Roxas watched as the rest of the team congratulated him. He put in a " Good job" to follow suit. Roxas was just glad it wasn't him who was selected to be leader, he couldn't imagine what he would do with that type of responsibility. Whenever he would go on mission he was always either acting as assistant to the lead be that Axel or Xibar etc. or he was on his own.

Well there was that one time…

The thought came but he couldn't understand from what. He couldn't remember a time when he took lead of the mission over anybody in the organization. He was the newest one there so it wouldn't make sense for him to be in charge of anybody else.

Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that there had been a time when he was the more experience over someone…

"Roxas?" Called out Ruby, the group were huddled by the elevator apparently about to leave "You coming?'

Roxas nodded and headed over, putting the confusing thought to rest.

* * *

Roxas found a medium sized brown briefcase lying atop his bed when the four returned to their dorm. Roxas cautiously opened the brown rectangle, slowly flipping each latch before creeping the lid was new to this world and didn't know if he should be wary of traps yet. Inside he found some basic condiments, A set of toothbrushes, a pack of pens, a personal towel, some sleepwear and a neatly folded school uniform. Roxas stared at the items for a short time before lifting the school shirt and leaning it against his chest, measuring to see if it would fit. It seemed close enough to him, but as he was returning the shirt to it's container he noticed the shape of another item lurking just underneath the clothes. He pulled out what he assumed were pajama pants and a surprisingly soft T-shirt to reveal underneath…

A Journal?

Roxas stared at the leather clad brown book for a short time before picking it up and flipping through the pages. The very first page revealed a small message written in black ink.

Dear Roxas,

I noticed how little you had in the form of personal items and took the liberty of selecting some for you. I hope you find these items of use to you during your journey through Beacon. This Journal is meant to help you record that Journey.

-Ozpin

Roxas smiled at the note. That old man was really looking out for him he realized, although Roxas did question just what exactly caused the head of the school to take such a serious interest in a nobody.

Roxas closed the book and set it on the bed with the rest of his items, suddenly he felt a breath hitting the back of his neck. He turned around to see Ruby attempting to crane over his shoulder to peer at the items but due to their similar height it was obvious she was struggling.

"What's all that?" she asked with inquisitive eyes.

"Um, I guess it's a present?" Roxas answered "Just some stuff from Ozpin. I didn't really have much on me coming to this school… I guess this'll help with that."

"Oh okay," The answer seemed to satisfy her curiosity "I'm absolutely beat!"

She leapt back on her bed and bounced twice before settling in. Roxas noticed that both Pyrrha and Jaune had both already laid down and were fast asleep. Ruby quickly followed suit.

Roxas cleared away the items from his bed before laying down as well. Instead of going straight to sleep, he decided to pop open the new journal and pull out a pen

Day 359: The First Day

A lot has happened. I fought the man who wore the same coat the organization does. He summoned a darkness that I couldn't fight but I managed to escape him by fleeing to a new world, one I've never seen before. A lot happened here too. I've decided to stay for a time to learn. They train people here, they make them stronger or so I've heard, and I need to be stronger. I need to be strong enough to face the organization on my own, I need to be strong enough to defeat the man who wears the organization's coat, I need to be strong enough to set Kingdom Hearts free and then everything will be back to the way it was. We'll finally be able to sit at the clock tower and eat sea salt ice cream together again. Just me Axel and-

Roxas was interrupted by a sound just outside the door. It sounded like items clattering to the floor and then quiet angry curses from a feminine voice. Roxas set down the journal and quietly walked across the room before just barely opening the door to see what was going on. He saw a girl gowned in a white long sleeve dress that ended at her thighs with a red highlight that ran along the neck of the dress. It looked to Roxas that she had been struggling to make her way through the halls as what looked like several large carrying backs were scattered along the hall along with what seemed like personal items scattered across the floor. She was quickly picking up the items while muttering under her breath "Stupid no good bag can't even carry my things in it's stupid no good pockets."

She turned her head and caught him looking at her with a curious expression.

"What!?" she said accusingly "Come to look at the failure like all the rest?! Well here I am!" her face looked like the physical incarnation of disgust and spite as she made a sarcastic bowing motion "Happy now?" she spat.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Roxas answered honestly, not sure why she was mad at him"Do you want some help picking your stuff up?" maybe if he helped her she would stop yelling. He didn't want to wake anybody up. Plus he didn't haven't many friends in this new world yet, he figured he could do with at least being on good terms with the people here.

"You… didn't come to gawk?" she sounded taken back slightly as her eyes slightly widened.

Roxas shook his head as he stepped out into the hallway and shut the door behind him. He knelt and began to pick up what looked like small glass containers of vibrant colored sand and deposit them into an open pouch in one of the bags. He saw her hesitate beside him, seemingly suspicious of his actions before eventually dropping the attitude and kneeling down next to him, collecting the same items.

"Careful with that, you know how fragile dust can be…" Her voice trailed off sounding tired and defeated now that she had dropped the attitude. She sounded sad to Roxas.

"Dust?" he asked, peering through the glass bottle in his hand. The dust as she called it seemed to sparkle within the container, glowing slightly as it did so.

"You don't know what dust is?" she asked skeptically as they picked up the last remaining bottles.

He shook his head for a second time. They stood up and he looked at her bags, four in total each like the rolling bag he had seen Ruby use earlier.

"Do you want help carrying them?" he asked presuming the spill had occurred from her trying to carry it all at once.

He saw her begin to get an attitude at the offer, as if she felt she was better than to accept his help. That bravado quickly washed away with a sigh and in the same defeated tired tone she said "Yeah that would be nice actually, thanks."

Roxas Followed her carrying with him two of the bags and the two talked as they traversed the hallways. Her name was Weiss Schnee and she explained to him in great detail what dust was, their properties and usages along with the fact that her father owned the biggest dust company in the world. He learned about how it was created and how she was very adept at applying it in battle along with how it was used outside of battle. He could tell she was very well versed on the topic and seemed to enjoy talking about it just as much as he enjoyed learning about it.

Roxas followed her all the way to the front entrance before asking if she was planning on leaving.

"I can't stay here any longer, ever since the exam students have been staring at me and I know they are thinking that I'm the girl who couldn't find a team, the girl who got lost and couldn't find a partner." she seemed to be talking to herself mostly, her anger at herself making itself known.

"I'm sorry," Roxas said, not sure how to respond.

"Well of course you are, EVERYBODY IS, that's all anybody says to me about it." she waved her hands in annoyance on the matter "I'm sorry Weiss, I'm sorry that happened to you, I'm sorry we can't put you on the team you wanted," Her voice was altered to imply she was making fun of all the people saying these things.

"Sorry about that, urk- I mean not sorry I guess." Roxas retorted awkwardly.

She wasn't listening he realized as she continued "I mean even Ozpin just told me that he couldn't do anything! That I failed the test and would have to wait till we had more students for me to form a team with! Well I'm not having it! I don't want to be some other student's sloppy seconds. I'm better than that, I know I am."

As she said those words she hastened her step as they walked outside and down the stone pathway. At the end of the walkway was the helipad where there was an aircraft with the schnee dust company logo painted on the side.

Roxas quickened his step to catch up.

"So you're leaving?" he asked

"I don't need Beacon academy to become a proper huntress. I've been doing fine on my own and will continue to do so on my own. I'll become the best huntress I can be, and i'll do it without this worthless school." as she said this they arrived at the craft where there was an attendant ready to take the bags they were carrying.

Roxas watched as he put them on the plane and Weiss turned to him "Thank you… you said your name was Roxas?" he nodded "Well thank you for helping me with my bags. That was very sweet, and also thanks for not judging me like everyone else. It felt good to not have to feel judged by someone for a bit." she smiled before her face took on a suspicious look again.

"Wait... are you a freshman?"

Roxas was only barely familiar with the term so it took him a second for him to respond "Yeah I guess I am."

"Hmmm…" Weiss was studying him up and down "You look a little young, why don't I remember your face from when all the freshman were preparing for the trial?"

"Umm- "he wasn't sure how to respond, she seemed like she was more accusatory in in her tone of voice over being curious.

"You're that kid everybody's been talking about aren't you! The one who that one hooligan found in the forest and Ozpin just up and decided to enroll in the school right?!"

Roxas couldn't understand why she was getting mad again as he answered "Yes?"

The scowl on her face was clearer than air "Ozpin chose to put you on a team over me and you didn't even go here. It doesn't matter that I didn't find anyone in the emerald forest, as a student I should have taken first priority over someone like you. I can't believe you were put on a team! That's absolute bull-"

"Miss Schnee we have to be going now," interrupted the attendant as he had just finished loading up the bags.

"Hmp!" she turned and marched to the plane. She left without saying another word to him and giving Roxas a disgusted scowl through the window of the passenger seat as they lifted off.

Roxas felt confused as he made the walk back to his dorm and felt exhausted as he laid back down again.

* * *

In the morning Roxas stared at himself in the mirror at his new student attire. He couldn't help but feel restricted in the uniform as it was far less comfortable than his usual coat.

He heard Jaune call out for him outside and quickly picked up the books he was told he would be using today. He found his team standing outside waiting for him, each smiling as he closed the door behind him.

"Are you ready?" asked the as usual chipper Ruby as Pyrrha and Jaune began to start walking.

My very first day of school…

He smiled "I'm ready."

* * *

Author's note:

Wow, this story attracted more attention than I thought with just its first chapter. Thank you all for the support and the reviews. The reviews are what fueled me to write this chapter in the time that I did. I'll try to keep updates between one or two weeks. This chapter just came faster due to the support received as I felt inspired to continue sooner than later.

Now I feel like there is going to be several fans who are turned off by the decisions I have made in this chapter so I should probably take a moment to defend myself. First, I watched emerald forest episode several times and came to the conclusion that Weiss would have never found her way out of the forest had it not been for Ruby's rather dangerous plan to take a ride on a Grimm. She would have also not found a partner as the only other person she met during those first few minutes was Jaune and she immediately rejected him. Her personality during this time was on the lines of 'I deserve the best I can get' so there is no way she would have actually chosen Jaune as a partner.

As for why teams RWBY and JNPR are no more and why Jaune and Pyrrha are now teamed up with Roxas and Ruby, I realized how much of a domino affect Ruby had by simply not being there. One small change would have meant that Ren and Nora would have been seen and thus selected by to be with Yang and Blake first over Jaune and Pyrrha who arrived just a little later. Plus I'm sure there are those of you with me who are tired of crossovers where the new character simply goes along with how the normal events occur in the storyline and hardly make an impact on changing the outcome before the big battle. I wanted to properly integrate Roxas into Beacon and by extension the world of Remnant.

Now I know there are going to be Weiss fans who are upset with her being gone for the time being. However, it wouldn't be in her character to simply accept being mistreated in her eyes and ignored as would be the situation here. I request that you be patient as I do have plans for her character later on and she will still be playing a prevalent role in the story line.

I hope that satisfies readers who are confused by my choices in the story so far, if you'd like to PM me in regards to something you disliked or found confusing then please do. I am always open for a chat.


	3. Chapter 3: New Classes

Roxas found himself wondering the school after classes. He had the need to explore this new place as much as he could, to familiarize himself so that he would know where everything was if the situation arose that he needed that information.

That, and he was bored.

While the classes had been very informative aside from the history class mostly due to him already knowing everything, they had hardly been what he expected. Ozpin had described to him a school where Huntsmans were trained to fight and battle Grim, to be able to adapt to any threat that may come be it in the form of a new Grim or an opponent who wishes to do harm to the innocent people of this world from what he gathered.

So why is it that most of the classes revolved around sitting down and taking notes?

He expected most of the classes to be more hands on training, teachers performing essential techniques that students would need out in the field. Instead he got an over eccentric history teacher who definitely needed to ease off whatever drink he put in that mug of his, and an overweight older egotistical Grimm teacher who liked to talk about himself more than the class. He had barely paid any attention to that lecture due to the seemingly pointless story about how amazing he, Peter Port, was during his prime. The only moment during the class that Roxas found himself paying attention to was when Ruby was called to fight the Boarbatusk.

* * *

-10:25, earlier in the day-

Ruby had quickly changed out of her school uniform into what she had told him was her battle skirt and returned to the classroom, Scythe in hand as Professor port prepared to unlatch the large cage in which the beast roared loudly to be let out.

She gave a single nod to indicate she was ready before the cage floor dropped and out came the beast. The Grimm had curled itself into a ball, using its outer shell to its advantage and was at concerning speeds rotating before launching itself at the young girl. Roxas could see Ruby's confident grin as she easily leapt up and over the Grimm, firing off two shots as it rolled underneath her. Both Rounds bounced off harmlessly before the creature came to a halt, This was the first time Roxas got a clear look at exactly what this Grimm was supposed to be. As it turned around to face the ready Ruby, Roxas could see that it closely resembled a boar as he had seen in other worlds. Its tusks were long and exaggerated and several bone white pieces of armor coated it's black skin making its exterior almost impenetrable, but otherwise it just looked like an oversized boar to him. From what Roxas could tell it's underbelly appeared almost completely vulnerable as no shell had grown there as to not inhibit the creature's movement Roxas imagined.

He wondered if Ruby had noticed this as well as she fired off two more shots before the beast came steamrolling towards her again. This time however she merely side stepped the beast and followed after it as it sped past her.

Roxas realized what she was up to as the beast came to a halt once again with Ruby right beside it. Using her scythe as a hook she was able to catch the beast just below the leg and fling him up and into the air. She was quick to follow using a single shot to rocket up to where her prey hung helplessly in the air, belly exposed to the sky. She raised her scythe over her head before bringing it down and in one fell swoop cleaving the boar in half.

"Well done!" announced Professor Port as the class cheered. One girl in particular Roxas noticed cheered far louder than the rest. She had distinct purple eyes with wild, bright blond hair and was the only one to rise to cheer for Ruby's efforts.

"We are in the prescience of a true huntress in training!" continued the professor "Now that will be all for today! Class dismissed!"

* * *

-present-

Roxas smiled at the memory as he ascended a spiral staircase. The more he explored the school the more he felt it was legitimately a castle. The rest of the day was terribly boring in his opinion; Just more and more talking followed by the repetitive sound of pencil or pen scratching on paper.

"Well, it wasn't all bad actually. There was lunch, that was kinda Fun." he said aloud to himself, noticing the echo of his voice bouncing up and down the stairwell.

* * *

-12:07, earlier in the day-

The lunch room was unlike anything Roxas had ever seen before. What seemed like a hundred kids his age all sitting down at long square tables with wide benches in order to sit down and eat the exact same meals.

Aside from the ice creams he had enjoyed on the clock tower, all of his meals had been eaten in the privacy of his own room during his time in the organization. He had to provide these meals himself with the income the organization gave him unlike just being handed a tray of food here and he never ate with a group before, especially one of this size.

He sat down alongside his team mostly because he noticed they were walking together and sitting together came naturally as they came to the table Ruby selected. Across from them Roxas noticed was the blonde girl from earlier along with the rest of her team, team RNBY, if he remembered correct.

The blonde who was sitting across from Ruby immediately reached over and wrapped her in a big awkward hug over the table "I'm so proud of you Ruby! You absolutely devastated that Boarbatusk and you looked so cool doing it!"

Ruby smiled as she returned the hug "Hehe, I felt pretty cool doing it, thank you sis,"

Roxas's eyes widened at the last word that slipped from Ruby's lips.

Sister?

Roxas noticed that the eyes at the table collectively moved back and forth between Ruby and Yang as Roxas was doing himself. He didn't know much about siblings due to his time in the organization but he did know that they were supposed to look at least somewhat similar.

Jaune was the one to voice what they were all thinking "Haha you two are sisters? You guys really look nothing alike you know."

Yang grinned as she released her sister and sat back down "Yeah yeah we know, but we like that we look distinct from each other."

"Makes us feel special ya know?" Ruby's voice rang out.

Jaune nodded "Yeah I actually get what you mean, I grew up with seven sisters and you know with seven girls in the house there are definitely going to be some necessary differences for everyone to feel unique ya know?"

"Any brothers?" Yang asked, he shook his head "Hah! One was unique because they were the best cooker or something while another was the best dancer I bet. What was unique about you was you were the boy I bet…" she trailed of snickering at her own bad joke.

Ruby seemed to catch on "Hehe, like in movies how it's always the smart one, the normal one, the fat one and the girl?"

Yang laughed "Exactly! This time it's the smart one, the dumb one, etc, and then the boy!" she said pointing over at Jaune.

Jaune was unamused "Riiight. Well anyway I was just saying that I see your point." he said as he drew his attention away from the conversation and to his food.

"Alright alright 'the boy' hehe," Yang said teasingly "And who is this dude? I don't think I've ever met him before." She pointed at Roxas.

All eyes turned towards him and Roxas could feel an immediate sweat begin to run down the side of his face "I am uh, Roxas, Part of team PRJR."

"Well yeah obviously," spoke Nora "But that doesn't tell us anything about you. Here, I'll demonstrate!" She stood up confidently and announced "I am Nora! Wielder of thunder and hammers and lover of pancakes! I have been friends with my best friend Ren here-" as she said this she pulled up the seemingly indifferent raven haired boy beside her to stand next to her "For as long as I can remember! He is an awesome pancake maker! Paza!" and with that, both she and he sat down quietly, seemingly ignoring the sea of heads all which had turned to look at them.

"See? Your turn," she said sweetly.

"Um," he spoke nervously, never having been pressured in this sort of setting before "I don't have to get up and do it like that do I?"

"YES!" cheered Nora and Yang as the rest of the table said in unison "No."

Roxas drew a sigh of relief "Well I don't know what exactly I should say… uh, what do you want to know?"

"Well where are you from?" Ruby asked.

"Uhhh," Roxas paused, not entirely sure of how to answer that question. As a nobody all he knew was that he just appeared one day and then Xemnas took him in. As far as Roxas knew, that was as far as he went.

He doubted he would be able to get away with that story without having to explain a whole bunch more to these people " I'm from somewhere pretty dark and kinda grey, I really like it here a lot better though." he hoped they would accept that answer.

"From one of those cloudy old small towns at the border of the kingdom?" Pyrrha questioned.

"Uhh, yeah sorta like that." he didn't know if the sky outside of the castle that never was had any clouds.

"So," Yang spoke again "What type of weaponry you got? What do you like to use in battle. I got me some sweet shot gun battle gauntlets, Ruby has a high powered sniper rifle which doubles as a massive extremely sharp scythe, what do you got?"

Roxas thought it over for a moment, while the keyblades did have some magical properties, when he got down to it they were really just swords "I like swords." he said sounding rather dumb he realized, maybe he could have called them keyblades, but then that would have led to a tad bit more explaining than he would have liked.

"...That's it?" Yang asked sounding rather disappointed.

"Um… they are very intricate swords I guess?" he said trying to make his answer seem less plain.

"They don't transform into guns at the hilt or something? Or become a bigger, badder giant sword when you fuse them together?" Yang said trying to get excited again.

"Um, as far as I know, no that doesn't happen." he answered scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

He saw Jaune lift his hand over Ruby's head to offer him a high five "You're like me! Enjoying the classics my friend!"

Roxas gave his first high five ever as far as he knew. He thought that he executed it pretty well.

* * *

-present-

Roxas had found his way onto one of the many towers Beacon composed itself of. His feet dangled off the edge of the tower precariously, but he wasn't afraid, he was peacefully enjoying the nostalgic feeling of sitting on the edge while watching the sunset.

He smacked his lips and found his mouth dry and yearning for something. He already knew what it was he was after, what sweet treat his taste buds were asking for; he deeply desired some sea salt ice cream.

"That would be the best…" he mumbled to himself.

He found his eyelids grow heavy as he laid back onto the flat top of the building. He found himself surprisingly comfortable as he positioned his hands behind his head, the bright orange light of the sun casting a comforting warmth that lulled the young nobody into a deep sleep.

* * *

Roxas expected the following day to take a similar turn as the first as he quickly hurried to class, feeling foolish that he had spent his entire night atop the tower and was feeling rather groggy because of it. As he arrived to his first class and sat down next to Ruby he found the young girl staring at him with wide eyes "Where were you?"

"What?"

"Where were you last night?" she sounded concerned "We were all worried for you, we had no idea where you had gone!"

"Oh," he said embarrassed "Sorry… I kinda took a nap on top of one of the towers… and didn't wake up until the morning."

Ruby smiled "Haha are you serious? I can't believe you."

Roxas responded sheepishly "Yeah… I thought it was pretty dumb too."

"Hehe, I hope you slept well."

"I didn't."

Roxas felt good making her laugh.

* * *

The rest of the classes passed as usual, Professor's port's class still consisted of his obnoxious need to tell his students just how great he was. Professor Oobleck, who he found prefered to be called Doctor, zipped around the room as per usual teaching the class Roxas found the easiest due to his entire textbook sized mistake. It wasn't until he arrived at Ms. Goodwitch's class that the day began to take a more interesting turn.

Before the class could even get settled she called out "Everyone! I want you all to return to your dorms and gather your battle attire. We will be doing something a little more hands on today!"

Roxas poured out with the rest of the class, bringing up the rear of his team as he did so.

"Why do you think she wants us all geared up?" Asked Jaune, a hint of concern in his voice.

"She probably wants to gauge where we are all at with our combat skills. I mean she is teaching a combat based class after all." Pyrrha answered with a confident smile.

"Woooo! I'm ready! You think we'll be fighting Grimm!?" she cheered excitedly.

"Hmmm… for some reason I doubt it. I didn't see any cages to hold any Grimm in and I doubt we'll have time for a trip out to Emerald Forest…"

"We'll be sparring against each other." Roxas voiced his realization aloud. He couldn't help but feel somewhat excited over the matter. He had never been given proper training, all he had ever learned from the organization was on the spot and in the field. Usually Roxas found himself relying on raw instinct over anything else, and while he knew he had some natural latent abilities wielding the keyblades as he had felt comfortable wielding them since day one, his objective was still to get stronger.

This was the way to do it.

Finally a battle where the outcome won't be life or death… I can actually train for once.

Ruby let out a groan " Meh, fighting people is much less fun than fighting Grimm. I really like killing Grimm hehe,"

"I can see that," Pyrrha responded cheerfully.

* * *

Ten minutes later the entire class had re-entered the training hall and was watching Ms. Goodwitch as she spoke atop the stage where it appeared the battle would take place. Up high behind her situated on the back wall were two screens both currently blank.

"Class, Today we will begin with some duels to find student's strengths and weaknesses when facing a human opponent. I know many of you have thrived at facing Grimm and the likes, but there are also people in this world who will wish to do harm to it and it is our job to defend against such threats as well. Now would anyone like to start us off?"

The first hand to shoot up had a Golden Gauntlet attached to it "I'd like to!" said an eager Yang as she waved her hand enthusiastically.

"Very good, now who will be her opponent?"

Roxas found his Gloved hand raising "I'd like to I think." he was equally eager to face off against one of the many students of Beacon. He needed to know how strong students were in this place. And the best way to do it without outright attacking one, was to face one legitimately in a friendly match.

The two stood on the stage facing each other. Roxas looked overhead and saw that their current aura's were signified with a green bar implying perfect condition. Roxas had been only briefly confused on the matter of auras when it had been brought up in class, but it quickly made sense to him in regards to what it was and whether or not he had unlocked his. There were many times when a heartless would slash its sharp claws at him and he would only feel the blow, but not take the damage. It would only be after a long battle that his actual body would begin to bruise and tear. In fact it appeared that all of the organization sustained damage this way as he could never remember a single member return to the castle bleeding. It simply appeared that this world had taken greater lengths to understand this phenomena than his world had.

His scroll which had been given to him by Ozpin as part of his necessary student attire was resting safely in his back pocket within his coat. He was told the device was able to gain an accurate read on your aura's condition during a fight, something he found extremely helpful.

"So where's your weapon Blondie? Did ya forget it or something?" Yang asked with a confident smile.

"You're Blonde too you know," Roxas answer in turn. He decided for this fight he wanted to bring out the Oath keeper. With a flash of light the weapon appeared in his hand before he widened his stand and sunk down, keeping the tip of the blade pointing down at an angle behind him as both hands tightened around its handle. It was the usual battle stance he chose when wielding just one keyblade, he didn't know why, it just felt instinctual.

He didn't want to go all out at first either, he didn't know just how strong students here were and didn't want the fight to be over before it even really began; One Keyblade seemed good enough to him, for now at least.

He heard a small 'ohh' from the crowd "That's a neat trick blondie," she raised her fists, taking a stance akin to a boxer "Hope it helps ya,"

The bell sounded and the fight started with the sound of a shotgun blast. Yang fired both gauntlets behind her sending her rocketing towards her opponent, cocking an arm back and readying a swing.

"Here I come!" she shouted as she closed the distance driving her fist towards his face, just at the last second Roxas shifted his head to the side and watched the arm over extend over his shoulder. He whirled on the back of his heel, using the momentum of a full 360 to fuel his counter strike as his oathkeeper struck her across the stomach and sent her flying back. Under normal circumstances, he was sure that attack had enough force to cleave a heartless in two, but he could feel the resistance of her aura protecting her. She grunted as she collided with the back wall, stopping her momentum.

She fell to the ground and landed gasping, but with a grin on her face

"Better than I gave you credit for blondie." she uttered as she caught her breath. Using her gauntlets again she fired a round directly behind her and rocketed herself towards Roxas. He decided that he wanted to close the gap early as he darted forward slashing out towards the blond powerhouse who blocked the blow by raising her shielded forearms.

The attack stopped her momentum but did not stop her drive. Roxas quickly found himself on the defensive again weaving around what felt like a blur of golden punches and shotgun blasts. Using his keyblade he batted away one of her strikes causing her to momentarily stumble back off balance. Roxas closed this distance but just as he prepared to swing he could feel the soft pressure of a slender fist on his chest "Gotcha," was all he heard as the loud bang of a shotgun blast rang in his ears and sent the Nobody skidding against the tiles backwards.

He gently rubbed his chest where the shot had connected, his skin pained and his breathing heavy as he did so. Looking up he saw the vexin in the air above him, fist cocked back ready and descending on him.

Roxas with frustration fueling his movements sidestepped the attack as her punch connected with the floor instead, shattering the tiles with an impressive boom. He darted around her and slashed the blonde in the back as he did so with enough force to leave her stumbling forward. He charged after her, knocking out her feet from beneath her with a single swipe and watched the girl grunt as her back met the floor with a thud.

He raised the keyblade above his head, his feet just centimeters from Yang's head and brought it down with full force, Yang barely had time enough to raise both Gauntlets in an effort to defend herself. The resulting clang of metal meeting metal echoed throughout the room for several seconds before dissipating.

Roxas did not expect Yang to grab him by the ankles and pull. Roxas fell to the ground but quickly regained his footing as Yang did the same.

The two stared each other down, both returning to their battles stances as they did.

"You're pretty good," she said with what Roxas could only consider a look admiration.

"Thanks... you too." he to his surprise he found a smile forming on his face. He was actually having fun.

So many of his fights had always encompassed a life or death scenario that this feeling of excitement was new to him. It wasn't laced with the usual fear creeping in the back of his mind telling him that if he made a mistake it would cost him more than the fight, it would cost him his life. Knowing that he could lose and still come out of this okay felt reassuring and made the action that much more fun for him.

It didn't mean he was planning on losing though.

"Ready to finish this?" she asked.

His only response was a quiet nod.

She began to fire a long series of blasts at the Nobody shouting a battle cry as she did so, he nimbly avoided each bullet with a step to the left or the right, each movement bringing him closer to his opponent. Finally she finished her assault and felt the full pressure of his own as he had closed the distance. Roxas's movements were fast and precise, each swing of his keyblade setting up for his next as the sounds of metal hitting metal clanged again and again. Yang was struggling to position her golden coated arms between herself and the near constant barrage of blurring white arcs. Each contact sent vibrations up her arm that made her increasingly nervous as the assault moved on giving her no leeway to counter attack.

"You're… pretty… fast…" she grunted in between each clash of metal on metal. She was losing ground fast, taking steps back to lessen the impact of each blow to her arms. Soon he knew she would reach the end of the stage and have no ground left.

Finally she leapt back, utilizing the remaining space she had and giving her a distance of 8 feet to work with. Roxas reeled back his arm just before he threw the keyblade with all of his might, initiating his strike raid. The rapidly spinning keyblade reached its target before ricocheting off of Yang's crossed golden covered arms and into the cheering crowd.

He knew she would try to press this advantage as she shot forward swinging a wild haymaker towards the side of his head. He ducked beneath the blow and summoned his Oathkeeper back to him, he could see the surprise in her eyes as he used his legs to carry him back up and land a devastating slash across her torso which sent the blonde flying at an angle up and over the crowd of students.

Roxas was surprised as she righted herself mid air and fired off a round that sent her flying back towards the stage. His delayed response resulted in the girl charging into him, sending them both to the floor. Roxas found himself pinned to the ground as Yang sat on top of him, using her legs to keep him stuck in place. The Nobody did his best to raised his blade and position it in between his face and her onslaught of punches, but that didn't last long as a well placed punch to his wrist loosened his grip followed by a shotgun blast to the hilt of the blade sent the Oath keeper skidding across the tiles away from his grasp.

Two powerful punches from each gauntlet managed to hit in sequence to Roxas's face, he saw flashes of white as each blow struck, dazing him and causing a ringing in his ears. Before she could land another he placed his gloved hand to her exposed stomach and shouted "Firaga!". Flames erupted from his hand and triggered a massive explosion that engulfed the two fighters. Both were sent skidding across the floor away from each other and as the cheering grew louder Roxas could hear a 'ding!" sound from the screen above him.

"That's enough now!" called out 's voice.

Roxas rose to his feet and saw Yang was doing the same at the very edge of the stage, where the explosion had sent her. He saw her looking up at the screen slack jawed with awe. Roxas looked up himself and saw that it displayed her aura which had just barely slipped into the red as his had only fallen halfway down into the yellow.

"Wow!" she said with her signature smile spreading from her lips. She walked over to Roxas and wrapped her arm around the back of his neck in a friendly matter "That was a great fight blondie!"

Roxas felt awkward at how close she was "uh, thanks...blondie." he decided to return the little nickname.

"Hehe, I guess it must be a blond thing, being this awesome and all huh?" she said laughing.

"I- uh, guess so." he said nervously, he was confused why she was so happy even though she had lost.

"You won't be so lucky next time you know!" she said giving his arm a playful punch with her free hand "Now that I know your tricks I won't be losing in our rematch!"

"Uh, Sure... and I won't fall for yours." he said, trying to sound confident with her arm still hanging around his shoulders.

They walked off the stage together and found both of their teams awaiting them.

"THAT WAS AWESOME!" called out Ruby "Way to represent team PRJR!" she hollered patting Roxas on the back as she did so.

"Thanks," Was the Nobody's response before Yang cut in.

"You do realize I'm your sister right? You shoulda been rooting for me out there!" she said with a slight annoyance.

"I know I know!" Ruby sounded so pumped "But I just assumed you would win Yang with how good you are! No offence Roxas, I saw you fight in the forest and know you can handle Grimm fine on your own," Roxas shrugged "It's just Yang has always been my big strong older sister so when I saw you actually fighting back I got so excited for our team!"

Pyrrha stepped forward "You really did well out there, both of you. I was impressed."

"As was I," Ren placed a hand on Yang's should "You did excellent out there, well done."

"Thanks, I know. I'll get him next time," she said with her usual confident grin returning to her face.

"Yeah you will! Because from now on you're going to be on my own personal workout routine until you are stronger than everyone in this school!" Hollered Nora with a raised fist "Except me of course," she added in with a sweet smile. Yang looked mildly concerned at this revelation.

"Good job," was all Blake added in as their team began to walk away with Yang leading the front. Meanwhile team PRJR was busy interrogating Roxas about his techniques.

"Where did you learn to fight like that?" asked Jaune.

"Do you have the semblance pull out weapons from thin air?" asked Ruby.

"How did you make that big fireball, is your semblance fire?" asked Pyrrha .

"Ummmmm," Roxas responded feeling only slightly overwhelmed. He took a deep breath thinking of his answers before speaking again "I taught myself mostly but had some help along the way, I can only summon my keyblades like that and can't summon other weapons, and what's a semblance?"

This only lead to more questions as he predicted.

"Wait what? How did you teach yourself to fight like that? Who helped you?" asked Jaune.

"Wait you can only do that with your keyblades? What's a keyblade? The weird looking sword thing you used?" asked Ruby.

"Wait, you don't know what a semblance is? Asked a skeptical sounding Pyrrha.

Thankfully before Roxas had to answer anymore questions Professor Goodwitch called out "We all saw how well Roxas and Yang performed, now can you four please settle down? I'm trying to address the rest of the class."

The team quickly silenced themselves as the teacher nodded "Good," she turned to the rest of the class "Now, is there anyone else who would like to volunteer?"

* * *

The four were dead tired by the time classes ended that day. Ruby, Roxas, Jaune and Pyrrha all trudged back to their dorm and collapsed immediately upon arriving at their beds. Ms. Goodwitch's class had been tough on all of them, and then having to continue throughout the rest of the day and continue normal classes made the strain that much worse.

"That suuuuucked," murmured Ruby as she buried her face into her pillow. None of them even bothered to change out of their clothes before sleeping, they all were asleep the moment their heads hit their pillows, all aside from Roxas who was pulling out his journal from beneath his pillow.

Day 361: New classes

More has happened. I've started to get a handle on classes here, they are mostly boring except for one. Glynda Goodwitch, the lady who escorted Ruby and I to Ozpin the other day, leads the class. It's a combat training class as far as I can tell. I haven't learned too much from it yet, but I did have my first fight. I fought hard and won! I'm beginning to feel that I made the right choice staying. I think I'll be able to learn what I need to know to get stronger, to get better.

I'm excited to see what tomorrow has in store for me.

* * *

Author's note:

That was a fun chapter to write. It seems character dialog along with fight scenes are extremely easy to write simply due to them being engaging. I am happy for both the criticism and positive reviews I have been receiving and have been accepting them all. For those of you who have noticed my spelling errors, Thank you! I am notorious with letting those slip by and have gone back and done my best to correct them where I can find them again.

Also, something you may have noticed is that I have refrained from giving the team comprised of Yang, Blake, Ren, and Nora a name yet. I was thinking that it would be interesting if you guys chose the name and who you think would be best as team leader, I was leaning towards either Yang for her confidence or Ren for his calm well thought manner.

Either way, you guys are the best! Thank you for the support I've been receiving and I hope this chapter was entertaining to you viewers! Drop a review to tell me how I did!


	4. Chapter 4: Feeling Normal

-Two weeks later-

Roxas couldn't help but grimace as he watched on. Both Jaune and a student Roxas had been told was named Cardin were up on the stage commenced in a duel as per the norm for a class of Ms. Goodwitch's. The Fight wasn't particularly interesting, but out of the two unimpressive fighters, he could tell that Jaune was the lesser.

The leader of team PRJR was leaning on his sword panting from exhaustion as his opponent, the leader of team CRDL stood unscratched resting his weapon of choice, an intricate steel mace whose end sported a set of thin strips of metal that curved inward surrounding the bar giving the object its blunt like properties, on his shoulder.

Roxas watched as Jaune picked up his sword and with a painfully slow charge came rushing at his enemy. His swing was so slow that Cardin was able to clumsily sidestep the attack and counterattack with his own heavy weapon aiming his attack at Jaune's side where his shield just happened to be. The piece of armor came flying off as Jaune was knocked away, rolling on the floor as he did. To the boys credit, he was on his feet again almost immediately and came charging once again with his blade up high in both hands.

To Roxas he looked so very slow, and while he understood that he was building power by bringing his arms up, he also knew that he was completely telegraphing his attack to the point that no fighter in the world would be caught off guard by his swing.

Instead of sidestepping like he had done before, Cardin decided to raise his Mace horizontally and stop the attack. Roxas could see Jaune pushing all of his weight onto the blade, trying to force it down onto his opponent. Roxas knew this wouldn't work as it wouldn't give Jaune the momentum enough to actually deal any damage if it actually managed to push down enough to reach Cardin, not to mention it left him open for-

"Oooooouuuch" Roxas heard Ruby exclaim as he cringed from Jaune being abruptly kneed in the stomach. This time Jaune fell to the floor, abandoning his weapon and holding his stomach in the fetal position.

"Oh boy," Pyrrha muttered, her eyes unblinking and obviously nervous as Cardin raised his mace over his head staring down at the helpless form of Jaune.

Just before the mace fell the authoritative sound of Glynda Goodwitch filled the air "That's enough."

She stepped forward and between the two fighters, Roxas noticed that Cardin looked particularly annoyed as she spoke "Students, as you can see Mr. Ark's aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament style duel, this would indicate that Jaune is no longer fit for battle and that the official may call the match."

Turning to Jaune who was just barely starting to rise to his feet she said "Mr. Ark it's been weeks now, Please try to refer to your scroll during combat. Gauging your aura with help you decide when it is appropriate to attack or it is better to move onto a more, defensive, strategy." He pulled out his scroll as the woman spoke, looking down at the device with what looked like disappointment "We wouldn't want you gobbled up by a beowolf, now would we?"

Roxas was close enough to hear Cardin murmur under his breath "Speak for yourself…" causing the Nobody's eyes to peel.

Turning to the rest of the class Glynda announced "Remember everyone! The Vital festival is only a few months away! It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in vale, so keep practicing! Those who chose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale."

Just as she finished her final word the sound of the school bell rung. Ruby, Roxas, and Pyrrha all waited as Jaune made his way down the steps and quietly joined the group as they all made their way down to lunch.

The team sat down again with team RNBY before commencing in the usual chatter that he had grown so accustomed to. This time Nora was telling a story about some sort of dangerous exchange with some ursa or beowolves, Roxas wasn't paying attention. Instead he had his eyes trained on Cardin and his team sitting a table away and just a few feet down the walkway from his group. He could see that they had surrounded a young woman sitting at the table with brown hair and bunny ears and appeared to be mocking her for her Faunus heritage. The history book he had read had told him in detail the plight of the Faunus people and he had immediately empathized with them, hating that a group of individuals were being treated like less than people for what made them different.

"Excuse me, I'll be right back." He spoke softly with a determination in his voice as the conversation began to shift from Nora's story to Jaune and his bullying problem with Cardin. Roxas had heard for weeks now about how Cardin had been picking on his team leader, but had yet to see it happen in person and hadn't known how to feel as a result. Now that Roxas was seeing the bullying first hand, it was different. He rose from the table and quickly made his way over to the group by the name of Cardinal.

By the time he got there Cardin had begun to tug on the girl's ears as she cried out in pain, asking him to let go. Roxas reached out and seized the boy's wrist and with a cold stare said "Let. Go. Now."

With wide eyes and a shocked expression he quickly released the Faunus who took the opportunity to briskly walk away with her tray in her hands, as she passed Roxas he could see her mouth the words 'thank you'. Roxas nodded before turning his attention back to Cardin who had begun to stand up.

"Who do you think you are?" he asked with a scowl, now towering over Roxas who had released his arm. The rest of team CDNL had leaped over the other side of the table and had boxed Roxas in.

"Do you want to find out?" Roxas asked dangerously, summoning the Oblivion to his hand. He could see out of the corner of his eye the rest of team PRJR scrambling to their feet along with team RNBY, pronounced Rainbow standing up and preparing to back him up if need be. It was obvious that Cardin saw this too as with a head jerk he motioned for his team to go; as they began to walk away Cardin called back to Roxas "I'll be seeing you again when you don't have all your friends with you!"

Roxas remained silent and merely frowned at the four as he watched them leave before returning to his table. Sitting down again next to Ruby he heard her exclaim "Whoa Roxas, I didn't see that coming."

"Huh?"

"You standing up to Cardin like that…it was cool Roxas." she smiled.

"Oh...I just don't like bullies I guess..." he stated with a hint of uncertainty. He didn't actually know exactly what had possessed him to head over and confront the school bully. Something in his gut had just felt right doing it. Something told him that he once let a friend of his be bullied like that… he hadn't done anything to stop it then, he didn't want to let it be the same now.

"That was very brave. In hope you know we would have had your back had things gotten physical." Pyrrha said reassuringly.

"Thank you." Roxas nodded.

"You have the full support of my team too! Right guys?" Yang called out turning to the rest of her group.

Blake was the first to confirm the claim "Absolutely, I hate guys like them." Roxas could tell from the look in her eyes that she was very upset about how they had been treating that Faunus.

Nora cheered "RIGHT!" as Ren calmly nodded his head with a pleasant smile.

"Thanks guys. I appreciate it." Although Roxas felt like he wouldn't need much help with that team considering their unimpressive displays of skill during Combat training, he did like knowing he had friends he could rely on. Over the last few weeks of getting to know this school he had become increasingly comfortable with his lunchroom group. Although he wouldn't say he was particularly close with any of them, even Ruby who seemed to talk to him the most, he was beginning to actually enjoy hanging out with them. He would even try to crack a joke from time to time in conversation, although he wasn't very good at it he had to admit.

The group ate peacefully for the remainder of the lunch period, talking amongst themselves about school work and other topics of interest. Ruby consulted Roxas on what he planned to write about as his social studies topic for the essay due at the end of the week. Nora made a big stink about Ren not making as many pancakes as he used to. Yang struck up a conversation about combat tactics with Pyrrha who eagerly obliged; and Blake kept to her novel, reading contently.

The rest of the evening continued as normal, Roxas found that he was the first to arrive back at the group dorm and decided to write an entry in his journal before everyone arrived and they began their study party, Pyrrha's idea.

Day 375:Feeling Normal

I'm finally starting to get used to the life here. Classes are easy as long as I pay attention and homework isn't too hard. I do think the idea of homework is strange though. Shouldn't all we need to learn be taught in class? Why are we given additional assignments to be finished on our free time? From what I've experienced students here get very little time outside of class to do anything, so homework just wastes more of that time, or should I say my time?

Speaking of which, I've been feeling rather cooped up as of late. I never thought I would say this but I miss traveling world to world defeating heartless. Due to how little time I have between homework and sleep I haven't gotten a chance to leave the school even once. I want to explore more of this world past Beacon Academy.

Roxas heard the sound of Someone entering the door and quickly shut his book.

"Roxas? Whatcha doing?"

He smiled at the sound of Ruby's voice as he turned around to face her "Nothing much, just writing."

"Writing? In that journal of yours?" she ask walking over to him.

"Yeah,"

"What do you like to write about in there? Do you ever write about me in there?" she asked with wonder in her eyes.

"Sometimes. I just write about day to day things. How life is like here and stuff. I do my best to write in it every day, but sometimes I forget."

Ruby laughed as she kicked off her shoes and laid back on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. Roxas thought it looked comfortable, so he pushed his Journal under his pillow and did the same in his.

"I once tried to write a diary," she laughed "I got like 3 entries in before completely forgetting about the thing."

"Yeah?" he asked, not entirely sure why she was telling him this.

"Yeah, I didn't really have much to say back then. I mostly just wrote about boys and stuff I think. I'd probably have more to talk about nowadays."

Roxas furrowed his brow "Why did you write about boys?"

Ruby giggled "You know how preteen little girls are. They fangirl over their crush or the newest boy band and all that. I'm ashamed to admit it, but that was me for a little while."

Roxas looked over at her with a confused expression "I honestly don't. Should I know about that?"

Ruby turned to face him with an equally confused expression "Well, I guess it's possible for a guy to not know about that stuff. Ever had any sisters?"

He shook his head. Would Larxene count?

"Oh, well that's not too bad."

Roxas took note as the conversation again lulled into a silence as he couldn't find the right words to say with a single question filling his mind "What do you mean by 'crush'?"

"Ruby's eyes grew large "Are you kidding me?"

He again shook his head, he began to consider if what he had asked had been an obscene question.

"You've never had a crush? You know when you like-like someone." she said appearing somewhat embarrassed, Roxas couldn't distinguish why.

"Like-like someone? Is that different from just liking someone? I like you and Pyrrha and Jaune, does that mean I have a crush on them?"

Ruby suddenly burst out laughing as Roxas grew increasingly frustrated "No- hehehe- no it's not the same. It's like... it's a liking that means you want to be with them more romantically. Like on a date or something."

"Oh." Roxas uttered as he finally began to comprehend the term of 'crush'. He knew what the dictionary definition of romance was, but he had never felt the urge nor did he understand the feeling per-se.

"...? So wait you've never had a crush?" Ruby asked with what Roxas could detect was disbelief.

He shook his head for the third time "No, I've never had someone like that I don't think."

"Wow." she looked genuinely surprised to Roxas "So I guess none of your friends have ever gotten that close huh?

What does she mean by that?

"Is a crush a closer form of friendship?" he asked with new questions arising from her statement. Just as he thought he had begun to understand the term she threw in a comment that completely derailed his thinking. He had never connected friendship to romance in any way, Instead he had assumed that romance was its own separate category since he'd had friends before but never felt a romantic connection. If a crush was related to romance, and a friendship somehow related to a crush, did that mean that friendship had some sort of correlation to romance?

"Well it can be." she giggled again, that embarrassment seemed to have quickly passed as he could tell she was genuinely getting a kick out of explaining this to him "Sometimes a friend becomes a crush, sometimes it can be someone who doesn't even know you. It all depends I think."

Roxas sighed and laid back onto his bed exasperated "This doesn't make sense to me. So a crush can be anyone?"

"Pretty much." she said with a grin.

"Great, I'm totally confused." he said with a tired sounding tone.

"Sorry!" she said with a genuinely apologetic tone "It's just kinda hard to explain I guess. I've never really had to explain it before, everyone pretty much just figures it out on their own by going through it I think."

"Oh..." Roxas began to put the pieces together in his head, taking a guess as to why he wouldn't understand "Does having a crush have anything to do with your heart?"

Ruby seemed to think about it for a second "Well it's not like you love the person just yet, but yeah I guess it does have something to do with it."

"Oh." he said in much calmer, quieter voice, the pieces coming together in his mind "Well that makes sense then."

Ruby stared at him confused "Why?"

Just then Jaune came into the room with several text books in hand and Pyrrha following shortly behind "Alright friends! Let's get this study party on the roll! Pyrrha brought snacks!"

She smiled and lifted the couple bags of chips in her hands.

"We've got a big assignment for Grimm studies due in a couple days and I think we can get this done tonight if we work hard! Let's do it!" he announced with a confidence Roxas was somewhat shocked by.

Ruby seemed to have forgotten her prior question as she leapt off the bed at the chips shouting "I WANT! I WANT! I WANT!"

Roxas chuckled as he too rose from his bed "Alright, let's get this done."

* * *

Roxas departed from his last class with sagging shoulders. He was feeling completely exhausted from the night before as Jaune insisted that they complete their assignments so that it wouldn't hang over their heads throughout the week. This meant that the group collectively had to stay up well into the 3rd hour of the morning to get it done. However to the boy's credit all of their projects did appear quite pristine by the end of the session, Roxas admitted that his would have been much worse without Jaune's help.

He also felt like Jaune was trying to find every way he could to try and be a leader outside of battle. Roxas took note of every time they were placed in a team setting how he seemed to stumble over his words and often times his very own feet, leaving the real fighting to himself, Ruby and Pyrrha. Thankfully usually Ruby would step to the plate when this happened, issuing out good suggestions or taking notice of a weakness that Roxas hadn't seen before. He had to give credit to the young scarlett that she had a knack for that. Although there had been very few instances for the team to act as one, during their time in class with Ms. Goodwitch Jaunes performance as a leader hadn't been very impressive.

I shouldn't jump to conclusions just yet, it's only been a couple weeks, maybe Jaune will become a good or even great leader... eventually.

Roxas stopped his train of thought as he heard the sounds of what seemed like a person crying. Following the noises he turned the corner and saw the young woman with the bunny ears from before a little ways down the hall. She was curled up with her knees to her chest and her head down and shrouded by her hair as she wept. Roxas frowned as he watched on, trying to decipher just what might be wrong before arriving at a conclusion.

This better not be because of Cardin...

Roxas quickly began to approach to see if he could do anything to help but before he reached her another girl sat down next to her. She had dark black hair and a similarly black bow atop her head. Roxas recalled her name was Blake as she wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulders and pulled her into a hug. Blake lifted her head and ,made eye contact with Roxas down the hall, her amber eyes meeting his blue. Roxas unsure of exactly what to do lifted his hand with a thumb up as if to say a silent 'you got this?'

Blake smiled and nodded before mouthing the phrase 'thank you.'

The Nobody smiled back with a nod and quietly made his way out of the hall and continued his trek to his dorm. He was glad that someone was there for her with the seemingly awful way some people treated Faunas. If he found out this was because of Cardin he planned to seriously teach that kid a lesson, one that did not involve sitting down at a desk for hours.

He felt a vibration from his uniform pocket and quickly pulled out his scroll. He found a message from Pyrrha saying that they were all planning on going down to Vale and getting away from the school for a bit and to meet by the front doors in a few hours. Roxas immediately grew excited at the prospect of seeing what sounded like a town or city of some sort. His exhaustion quickly dissipated as he lifted his head and-

* * *

"Did you find him?"

"No he wasn't there! What do we do?"

"Are you sure? You checked everywhere?"

"Yes! I check everywhere! He was nowhere! We should have just brought him where we were told to!"

"Relax, we still got this, get over there, everyone else, do the same."

"...okay."

Roxas woke up with an exploding pain originating from the side of his head, he could already tell that a bump was forming there.

"Owwwww..." he tried to lift an arm to rub at the spot but found his arms and legs bound by rope to the wooden chair he had been placed on "What the...?"

Fear began to set in as his eyes quickly darted about the small room. It was poorly lit with only a single bulb hanging above his head casting light that reached the gray walls but failed to illuminate the dark corners of the square room. He quickly realized that he must have been knocked out and brought here. He wondered why his aura hadn't protected him, but determined outside of a combat situation and feeling off guard at the time his battle sense must have left him vulnerable.

"Looks like we caught you without your little friends to protect you, Roxas." Sounded a familiar voice. From the left corner emerged Cardin, a smug look of someone who thinks they've won written all over his face. One by one The rest of team CDNL stepped out from the dark corners of the room and surrounded him.

"You shouldn't have messed with us kid, now we're going to teach you a lesson on who is and isn't the big dog around here." the bully said as he leaned over, staring Roxas in the eyes.

Roxas smiled "How funny, I was thinking the same thing." just then he gripped the ropes tying his hands together and utter the spell "Fira."

With a little bit of pressure Roxas pulled his arms free from the burning bindings and quickly faced his palms towards Cardin's shocked form "Firaga!"

The explosion was deafening and sent both occupants flying backwards. Cardin grunted as he was slammed against the wall, meanwhile Roxas had crashed into the two who had been standing behind him. They both fell to the ground and Roxas found himself on his side struggling to remove the ropes at his feet as he quickly fumbled with the ties.

He felt the toe of a heavy boot strike him square in the face causing him to cry out in pain. Grimacing, he looked up and found the last standing member of team CDNL, he identified him as the one with the mohawk, was rearing his foot back to land another kick. Roxas growled as he lifted a hand and spat "Aero!" the gust of wind sent the punk spinning into the Cardin who was just barely recovering from the massive explosion, only to be flattened against the wall for a second time.

Finally unwinding the twisted rope he rose to his feet, rubbing his jaw slightly as he did so. Thankfully he could feel that his aura had kicked in and protected him from most of the impact, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. He made slow strides towards the boy with the brown hair who was pushing his team mate off of him as Roxas approached.

He summoned the oblivion to his hand and began to drag it against the cement behind him, his blue eyes trained on the armor clad student who began to lift his mace in a ready position "Just because you caught us off guard doesn't mean you'll be able to take all of us on! C'mon boys!"

The rest of his team groaned as they scrambled to their feet, still surrounded, Roxas smiled. The room was restrictive for sure, it barely spanned 10 feet in length and width, but the Nobody wasn't worried.

"Oh really?" he said as his cheerful demeanor faded into a dark scowl "Prove it."

He could see the rest of team CDNL looking at each other nervously, obviously unwilling to engage this enemy, all but Cardin who stared down Roxas with a look of deep anger.

"I'm gonna break that smug face of yours!" he shouted before charging toward the young Nobody. The others all roared as they charged too, raising their weapons as they did so.

Roxas darted forward, catching the mace mid swing with the end of his keyblade and with a swift movement violently ripping it out of the young man's hands. The mace flew and crashed into the head of the one with the mohawk who immediately crumpled to the ground. Roxas didn't know the guy's name and frankly he didn't care as he still had two fighters charging him from behind. Roxas spun around and found the dark blue haired boy wielding a long Halberd able to swing at him first, using the weapon's long reach to bring it down like an axe on Roxas's head. Roxas easily deflected the wild attack before rushing forward, preparing his swing as the boy was struggling to recover, leaving him completely vulnerable.

Just before he could let loose his attack he found himself intercepted by the blonde one wielding what appeared to be a sword whose handle resembled the end of a revolver? Roxas could tell that this fighter knew more about his weapon then the others as his movements were swift and his strikes were fast as well as precise. Roxas found himself parrying and striking with neither giving any ground until he managed to sidestep a lunge that left the boy open. Roxas stepped forward and slipped his keyblade just inches away from the blonde one's stomach before gripping the handle tightly with both hands and driving all of his force into the swing, sending the kid flying across the room and against the back wall where he crumpled to the ground.

Roxas could hear the whizzing sound of something splitting the air just behind him and instinctively ducked down, watching as the mace he had thrown across the room earlier swung harmlessly over his head. The young Nobody spun around, using the momentum to rake his keyblade across the unprotected stomach section of Cardin's armor.

He doubled over clutching his stomach almost immediately, dropping his mace in the process and leaving only one fighter left standing.

Roxas turned around and saw the silver haired boy standing with his Halberd nervously raised in a ready position.

Roxas could see the fear in his eyes "Do you really want to do this?" he asked raising his keyblade with one hand.

He watched in surprise as the student shook his head with wide, terror filled eyes. Roxas chuckled "Alright, I'll… I'll just pretend I got ya." Roxas put a half hearted swing that lightly tapped the boy's armor. In response the boy crumpled to the ground, the look on his face was one of gratitude as Roxas turned around, facing Cardin who was slowly rising to his feet while still clutching his stomach.

He was breathing heavily as he gasped out "I… hate!... You!... so much!"

Roxas brought his keyblade just inches away from the boy's face "You started this Cardin. If I see you picking on anybody ever again, I won't be so forgiving next time. Got it?"

Cardin's scowl slowly turned to a look of worry as Roxas brought his keyblade closer and closer to the bully's throat. Just as the blade began to press itself against Cardin's neck the boy called out "Okay! Okay! I get it!"

"Good." the Nobody said as he lowered his weapon "I'm going to go now. And in since you guys aren't going to tell anybody about how I beat you all up, I'll think about not saying anything about you guys kidnapping me."

Cardin growled as he said "Fine, whatever, just go already." he pressed his back against the wall nearest before slowly sliding down it to a sitting position, grimacing still from his injuries.

"Good." Roxas stepped over the unconscious form of the mohawk friend and made his way to the door. Stepping outside he found himself just outside the the main building of beacon, the night air cooling his skin. Looking back at the structure he had emerged from he realized he had been locked in the supply shed with these heathens.

"...wow..." Roxas saw on the side of the building sat a large pile of gardening tools and extension cords all hastily piled up as Roxas presumed that using this place had been a last minute decision made by the leader of team CDNL. An empty cement room sure was a lot more intimidating than a gardening shack.

Roxas wondered to himself if he should tell someone about what just happened. He was certain that kidnapping wasn't allowed in this world considering the well structured rules and obviously developed infrastructure. This place was a very advanced economy and these kids would probably receive a severe punishment for what they had attempted to do.

He tossed the idea around in his head for awhile. Sure that would get rid of them probably, and they were a nuisance to the school as they did seem to bully a lot of people, but did that mean Roxas should rat them out? They were attending a school to train them to become huntsmen that would one day protect the world... so he knew that their hearts were in the right place even if their actions were sometimes questionable. The young blonde decided against the idea ultimately, sure they had done some wrong but he decided that no person was truly without evil in their past, he knew that from experience. He had to believe that people deserve second chances, that everyone should be allowed at least a few mistakes...

Otherwise, how could he accept himself?

Plus this meant that he could hold this over their heads as leverage if ever he wanted to blackmail them in the future…

Roxas pulled his scroll out of his back pocket. Surprised that they hadn't taken the device during his unconsciousness, and looked at the over 20 messages littering his screen.

"Oh crap..." he mumbled under his breath.

The first 5 were from Ruby asking where he was and if he was tagging along with them to Vale. The next couple were from Jaune and Pyrrha asking if he was coming or not and that they were all waiting for him at the front doors. The next few were again Ruby as she told him that they were going and again asked why he wasn't responding. The next couple were hours after and included a concerned Pyrrha mentioning that she didn't see him at the dorm when they came back and that Jaune and Ruby were out looking for him. Another message from Jaune asking why he wasn't responding-

Just then the scroll began to ring and he saw that it was Ruby. Looking at the time he realized it was just about to be 4 in the morning before he answered it.

"Hello?"

"Where were you!?" half shouted a concerned Ruby "We all thought you got eaten by a Grimm or something!"

Did she stay up all night trying to get a reply?

He briefly checked his missed calls to see that he had a missed call from her scroll every hour or so.

"Sorry," he said only slightly offend that they thought he would be taken down by some random Grimm "I got into a little trouble and was 'tied up' dealing with it. I'm okay now though."

"Huh?" he could hear the tired in her voice "What were you ~YAWN~... doing?"

"Roxas silenced a small chuckle "Don't worry about it. Things are okay now. Get some rest. I'll be up in a little bit."

"Where are you?" Roxas could hear the sounds of the girl's sheets as she began to climb into bed.

"I'm just outside in front of the school. I'll be back in a little bit."

"Oh,okay... I'll be...ZZZ"

Roxas's lips pulled into an easy smile "Goodnight Ruby." he said before hanging up the scroll. He looked up at the waning moon above him and sighed. Classes were going to start in just a few hours and he wasn't even in bed yet.

It was going to be a long day.

* * *

Author's Note: I was actually going to include a lot more in this chapter but found that character interactions and the short battle scene towards the end consumed more time than I predicted. The scene between Ruby and Roxas had actually be a spur of the moment inspiration and hadn't been planned at all haha, but I suppose that can be said about a lot of things.

I want to address the fact that Roxas was knocked out and that his aura didn't protect him from the impact as it normally would, I know there will be some saying that it was unbelievable. I don't believe a character's aura is something that is always turned on as I think that would be exhausting after a time. Yes it can be turned on almost immediately in a dangerous situation, but it is a force that slowly drains as the user takes damage so I imagine that it has to recharge during a character's down time outside of combat. That would be the situation that Roxas found himself in just before he was KO'd! Lol.

Either way, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and will post a review or deliver a PM detailing your amusement and/or concerns as the story progresses. I am truly appreciative of the fact that you all take the time out of your day to read my story as I know you really don't have to. It makes me so happy when I find that someone took the extra time out of their day to post a review and tell me how I did. It makes this seem worth it to know that I am causing what appears to be genuine enjoyment out of this story and I hope I continue to do so in the future.


	5. Chapter 5: A Strange Request

Roxas found himself along with the rest of the class out in the bright red foliage of the Never Fall forest. He was wearing his dark black organization coat which he felt more than comfortable in with it's thick yet still breathable material. Ms. Goodwitch instructed the class to collect a jar of sap per each person, having Jaune hand out the jars as she said so.

The class split off into their respective teams for the given task, they had been told that while the scarlet trees and lovely summer light did form a truly beautiful sight that Grimm still inhabited the area and to be careful.

Roxas struggled to figure out just how he was meant to collect sap from the tree he stood in front of. He played with the metallic tube he had been given for some time, stabbing it into the tree several times with nothing to show for it. He looked around and saw that the rest of his team along with team RNBY had managed to insert their tubes well enough and were slowly but surely filling their jars with the pink, gooey substance. Roxas turned back to his tree, crouching and frustrated but still not understanding what he was doing wrong. He yanked the tool out of the tree again and stared at it for awhile, wondering if it was broken.

He saw Pyrrha kneel beside him out of the corner of his eye and gently take the tool from his hand.

"Here, let me help." she said sweetly. She was wearing her usual combat attire, a strapless bronze top that didn't restrict her shoulder movements and appeared to tightly coat her curves and form allowing for minimal bulk. Her lower half was covered by a short velvet skirt which extended like a scarf down her side. Her legs from mid thigh down were armored with flexible bronze leggings that ended at her black high heel boots which surprisingly didn't seem to inhibit her movements at all.

With a swift motion she jabbed the tool at an angle upward so that the metal straw pointed downward as it embedded itself into the tree "If you do it like this then gravity will push the sap through the straw."

"Oh!" he said as he began to see the sticky substance rapidly begin spilling out of the tube. He hastily grabbed his container and placed it just under the pouring substance, spilling the sappy goo all over his hands in the process. He regretted taking off his gloves now as he stared at his pink coated fingers "Thanks Pyrrha, I guess this tree was more full than I thought." he said as he wiggled his fingers about, feeling the sap begin to stick the digits together.

"I'm sorry!" she said in her usual tone of concern "I think there may be a river somewhere around here... ummm maybe this way?" she said pointing with uncertainty.

Jaune's head turned having heard their confusion from a tree away "What's wrong?"

Roxas lifted his syrup coated hands.

"Oh," he said in realization "I saw it over there while we were walking this way. Here, I'll show you."

The two disembarked through the tree line, Roxas holding his hands awkwardly and away from his clothes as if his fingers were contagious.

"It's right around here... ah! There it is!" he said pointing to the left after a short walk. Roxas turned his head and saw the flowing water and hastened his step as he made his way towards cleanliness.

He quickly submerged his hands and a wave of relief washed over him as he felt the pink residue begin to fall away with the current.

Jaune stood beside his crouched form, taking in the view "Jeez is this place pretty, I could sure get used to seeing a sight like this quick." He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, with a sigh he smiled and said "Yup this is the best field trip ever."

"It is nice out here." Roxas said as he continued to focus on wiping his hands clean. The sections in between his fingers were still sticky and he was determined to clean his hands completely.

"Uh... R-R-Roxas?" the Nobody could sense the fear in his voice as he quickly looked over his shoulder at Jaune. His eyes were big and trained on something Roxas couldn't see. Jaune pointed and Roxas followed the finger to find that only a few feet away behind them had emerged 3 very large Ursa from the underbrush.

Roxas immediately stood and summoned the Oath Keeper to his aid. Before the set of Ursa could even release their collective battle cries Roxas leapt into the air. Spinning wildly he darted past the first two Ursa, his blades beheading both in a single swipe. Still spinning through the air he turned his body horizontally so that the final swing fell like an ax atop the last Ursa's head. The creature's skull caved in like paper mache.

His landing was less than graceful however as he found his blade embedded in the beast and rode it down as it fell. He stumbled as he tore his blade from the creature and leapt off of its body.

"Whoa..." Jaune looked on in wonder "...you took those down in like... seconds..."

Roxas looked over at the boy and could see his gaze was aimed at the ground, appearing seemingly disappointed. Roxas could tell something was bothering the young blonde, but he couldn't distinguish what. The Nobody looked around them for a time, no one was around and the Ursa had been slain, what was there to be sad about?

"What's up?" He finally asked.

"...it's nothing." Jaune responded in a sullen tone.

"Uhhh... if you say so?" Roxas responded questioningly. He really didn't know how he was meant to approach this problem. Should he keep asking? Or would it be better if he left it alone? Should he take a guess and hope he was right? But then he has no clue what there would be to be sad about. From What Roxas could tell Jaune's bullying problem vanished nearly overnight, the Nobody assumed that it was due to the little exchange that had occurred a few nights prior. Roxas had specifically told them that if he caught them again he wouldn't hesitate to make good on his threat. So he knew they weren't bothering Jaune. Not to mention Roxas knew that Jaune's grades were all good, in fact all of team PRJR's grades were good. Jaune made sure to be on top of everybody about their studies as team leader, so he knew it couldn't be that either.

Just as he began to run another possibility through his head Jaune spoke up "It's just that... well, I think it's obvious here that I am not the most... competent fighter."

"...I mean... I guess?" Roxas didn't want to sound rude in his response.

Jaune chuckled "It's okay man you can say it. I won't take offense. I know I suck at fighting and so far I've been pretty much useless in a battle... I'm just so tired of being useless for our team you know?"

Roxas nodded "I can see that."

"I don't want to be the one running away when a big bad Grimm shows up. I don't want to be calling for help anymore like I did with those Ursa."

"Okay...?"

"I mean I should BE the help that comes to save the day. I'm training to be a huntsman right? I should be able to handle a simple Beowolf!"

"Yeah... I guess you should." Roxas could tell that the boy was more rambling than talking to him at this point.

"Everybody is already so good. Everybody here could probably take on leagues of Grimm no problem while I'd probably struggle to hold my own against just one... I can't believe myself sometimes." His voice grew quiet as he finished his sentence. His eyes trailing off towards the water.

"I guess you'll just have to get better." Roxas stated blankly.

"Huh?" the boy said, seemingly hearing the idea for the first time.

"Well if you don't want to be the one calling for help and all that, then you'll have to get better at fighting is all."

"And how am I supposed to do that?" Jaune asked skeptically "When I came here I had assumed that this school would train me in combat, regardless of how far behind I was. But it doesn't look like we get any basic training here."

"hmmm...Yeah, everybody here has more or less figured out their fighting style already." Roxas said in agreement.

"Yeah... I mean I need a teacher that can show me from the ground up how to fight correctly. How to use my weapon and-" Jaune stopped mid-sentence, his eyes flashing open seemingly with an idea.

"...What is it?" Roxas asked, noting the look of almost excitement building from the expression on Jaune's face.

"It's just that you're right." He said with a smile spreading on his face "I need to get better, and fast, otherwise everybody is going to leave me in the dust once they've perfected their fighting styles,and then there won't be any catching up." Jaune said with a hint of determination in his voice.

Roxas only nodded, not entirely sure where Jaune was going with this.

He realized his confusion must have been written on the expression on his face as Jaune said in a laugh "You must be wondering why I'm tell you this huh?"

"Yes."

"Well..." Jaune paused, Roxas could tell that the boy was doing his best to plan out his next sentence "It's just that I noticed that you and I use similar weapons is all..."

"...Yeah, I mean they ARE both swords." Roxas said still not following.

"You're not getting what I'm implying here are you?" Jaune said with a wide smile.

"No."

"Weeeelll." he said still with that confident smile written on his face "What If you showed me how you fought? I need a teacher who can work with me from the ground up, and obviously you're super good at what you do" he motioned to the rapidly decomposing Grimm laying behind them " If you'd teach me your style, we'd have two awesome swordsmen in our team!"

Roxas's eyes widened in shock "I-I don't know... I was never really trained myself, I just kinda went with what felt natural to me... so I would probably be teaching you wrong."

Jaune laughed "See? You're a natural! You would be perfect to teach me! Besides, even if you are teaching me wrong, It's definitely better than where I am at now. In all honesty, If I can at least become half as good as you are, I'll be happy with myself."

Roxas thought it over for some time. He did want the leader of PRJR to be able to defend himself during times that the rest of the team wasn't around to save him. The problem lied in the fact that Roxas had no idea how to teach sword fighting. He had never done it before nor had he ever gave any thought to the technique he used or how he wielded the Keyblade. He relied on his instinct and usually that's all he needed in a fight, his body moved how it needed to and he never questioned why.

"Look," Jaune spoke up after noticing Roxas fail to find an answer "I understand that you probably have like, zero experience teaching another fighter, so I can be patient with you figuring out what you want to teach me as long as you can be patient with me learning, okay?"

Roxas shook his head "I still don't know Jaune, I might not be able to teach you anything."

Jaune frowned "Just think about it, okay? I don't need an answer now, but maybe see if you would be able to consider it once you've put some thought into it."

Roxas responded with a nod "Yeah alright... I'll give it some thought."

"Thank you!" he said before adding "Oh, but please don't tell anyone I asked you. It's already embarrassing enough that I have to ask another student to teach me how to fight... I'd prefer if everyone else didn't know."

Roxas nodded "I won't tell anyone."

Jaune smiled and cheered"Awesome!" before quickly regaining his composure "I mean- that's cool. Anyway we should probably get back, we've been gone for a little bit now."

"...But I haven't cleaned my hands off all the way..."

"Oh right!"

* * *

Later in the day Roxas found himself sitting down with Ruby at the library as she began to set up what appeared to be a map of the world of Remnant on the table. It was thicker than most maps Roxas was used to as most maps he had been in contact with were all in a paper or paper-like form, meanwhile this one unfolded from a square and appeared to be made of cardboard. Roxas stared at the clunky looking map still with uncertainty as it was not laid out as he remembered from class. The countries were each colored differently and the territories within were all wrong with how the lines were separating them. Not only that, but Roxas quickly noticed that none of the territories were with names either, the only things that were named were the four nations.

Ruby pulled out some cards from the same box she had retrieved the strange map and laid them out on the table. She announced to Yang and Blake sitting across from them "You ready for some world domination?!" she raised her arms in a cheer as she smiled. Roxas smiled too although he had no idea what was going on.

"Yeah I am!" Yang cheered as well, imitating Ruby. Even though they looked nothing alike, Roxas could find similarities between the two the more time he spent with them. They each had a comparable amount of cheerfulness that only grew the more they with each other. Roxas found it somewhat contagious as he too found himself in a state of pleasant contentment as he watched the spectacle.

Roxas spoke "What exactly... is this?"

Ruby and Yang both turned and looked at him with devious smiles "Only the most epic board game EVER!" shouted Ruby.

"YOU'RE ABOUT TO BE DOMINATED!" Yang cheered in an absurdly deep and purposely menacing voice to which Ruby replied

"NEVER!"

Roxas again questioned "Ummm... I still don't exactly know what this 'board' game is."

The way he said the word board implied that he was unfamiliar with the phrase, something Ruby seemed to pick up on "...Do you not know what a board game is?"

Roxas shook his head.

They turned to him again, this time with a different expression on their collective faces, even Blake looked up from the book in her hands "You've never played a board game before? Like not even as a kid?" asked Yang with a tone of confusion.

He slowly shook his head, again feeling like he had done something wrong "We didn't do a whole lot of... 'games' I guess... where I came from that is."

The excitement began to fade as Ruby asked with a hint of concern in her voice "Roxas? Where did you grow up? I know you said you came from a small town, but I mean, every kid likes to play games."

"I guess not me." Roxas retorted with a sheepish smile, trying to pass off the question as unimportant. The Nobody sometimes felt so alienated around these people, his 'friends' as they called it. These kids all had a past, a childhood in which they grew up and through a long process became who they were today. They had family, brothers and sisters along with parents and grandparents. They knew who they were because they knew where they came from.

Roxas on the other hand didn't have any of that. Roxas only knew that one day he simply came into existence with little explanation behind it. He wasn't, and then he just... was. It wasn't long after that he was found by Organization XIII and given a purpose, to defeat the Heartless and complete Kingdom Hearts. That, Roxas knew, was his whole life up until this point, he had been given no childhood, no parents or family or past. The Organization and its members had been his entirety up until that point.

He didn't reflect back on his time at the organization in a positive light, well, there were certain moments that he cherished and missed, but for the most part he resented the Organization he had been a part of. They had wronged him, he struggled to remember how... but he knew there was a reason and when he thought about what had to have been the cause it made him... hurt, in a way he was unfamiliar with. Still, at least when he was there he knew that everyone at the Organization had been like him in some regard. They all had no heart, they understood him more because they were like him. He didn't need to explain himself, they didn't expect him to have a past because they were no longer who they once were either. In comparison, these kids were all different from him, from the people he was used to dealing with. They were Somebodies, they had hearts and that made them better than him because they were complete. He resented them a little because of it, because he knew he would never have what they did, and could never answer a question normally like they could. Although, he couldn't really blame them for asking him questions about his past as they didn't know he wasn't a somebody like them, they couldn't know, because who would understand what it was like to be a Nobody? Who could understand what it's like to be a being without a heart? He didn't like that he was without,he wanted to be like them, he wouldn't let them know any different.

So he played it off again, pushing the less than favorable thoughts to the back of his mind "We just didn't play a lot of board games is all, we still played a bunch of games for sure."

"Yeah?" Ruby asked, the questioning look slowly dissipating from her face, "Well, anyway, want to learn how to play?"

"Sure."

* * *

The game felt like it had been going for hours now and Roxas was fully engrossed. He had picked up the rules in 15 minutes and now was in a tight spot comparably speaking. He had Ruby's nation on the ropes with his naval advantage due to her Nation bordering so much water giving him multiple avenues of attack, but Yang and Blake were still a major threat to his military with all the air power they had drawn early game. He had very little to counter this which they knew, which was also why they were waiting it out.

Roxas felt that Blake was somewhat indifferent when it came to the game, and seemed to be prospering simply by good dice rolls and massive luck with her draws. Yang and Ruby on the other hand had been at war for seemingly the entire game as the two players saw each other as the most threat with Roxas only recently entering the fray with his now quite formidable naval fleet.

"You know you can't attack me right? Not with how Yang is on the board right now?" Ruby said with confidence.

"I know..." Roxas said focusing intently on the board, trying to think of strategies to win "Your aerial defenses are the only thing stopping her from crossing the water..."

"Not for long!" shouted Yang "As soon as I draw a system shutdown her walls will do nothing to my fighter pilots! You two are toast!"

"A system shutdown huh?" Blake murmured looking over at Yang and then down at her cards "Like this?" she said casually laying the card on the table.

Yang saw it and grinned "Woooo! You two are about to be gone!"

"I'm not using it on Ruby." Blake said quietly.

"Huh?" Yang remarked confused "but it'll hardly affect Roxas, all his stuff is in the water, the most that will happen is his subs will sink to the floor for a turn."

"I know. But don't you have all your attack planes in the air to prepare for an attack?"

"Yeah...? so what-" Yang's eyes grew wide "No... TRAITOR!"

"We weren't on teams to begin with." Blake smiled with a calm demeanor.

"We are team RNBY! Doesn't that mean anything to you!?" Yang said in a plea. Roxas realized that since her fighter pilots were all in the air at the time, if her nation was hit with a system shutdown, all of her military force would come crashing down to the ground.

"Do it!" Both Ruby and Roxas said at once.

"You were the next big Threat Yang, sorry. System shut down on the kingdom of Vale." Blake said, pushing the card atop Yang's nation.

"Nooooo!" Yang said as she was forced to put away all of her pieces.

"Direct attack!" Shouted Ruby, pushing her forces forward.

"Gahhhh!" Yang slumped down her chair until she was laying on the ground, indicating her defeat with a playful "Bleh."

* * *

As the four made their way back to their respective dorms the conversation completely revolved around the game that had just taken place. Yang still complaining that Blake had stabbed her in the back and Ruby reveling in her surprising victory.

Roxas had enjoyed the experience as he grew silent as they walked, thinking back and wondering if he had ever played a single game during his time in the organization. There had been that one awkward vacation day when he had done his best to find something to do without the instruction he was used to. Would that count?

"Roxas, you've been pretty quiet over there. You're not sore about losing are you?" Ruby asked, looking over at him with the boxed up game balancing on her head.

Roxas looked up, realizing that he had been staring at the ground as they walked and shook his head "No, no, I had fun."

"Oh good, it looked like you were getting into it." She said with a smile. The four parted as they reached their dorms, wishing each other a good night before Roxas opened the door for Ruby who was still balancing the box on her head.

As they stepping into the dorm Roxas saw Jaune immediately lift his head up from his pillow where he had been reading and turn to him "Heeey Roxas, how's it going?"

Oh no...

Roxas didn't have a second to think about what he should say. The Nobody was brought back to the conversation they'd had in the forest and still didn't have an answer for his team leader, or at least, not one that he would want to hear.

"Hey Jaune... What's up?" was Roxas's reply.

"Oh nothing much, just studying up for this test tomorrow. It's really been making me think you know? How about you?"

"What about me?" Roxas said playing dumb. He could see out of the corner of his eye Ruby standing there looking at the two confused.

"Oh you know, been thinking?"

"No... no I haven't been thinking much." Roxas said, hoping that was an answer.

"Oh okay!' Jaune responded, his cheerfulness hardly affected "Well tell me when that changes friend!"

Roxas only nodded before heading over to his bed which he now appreciated was on the other side of the room from Jaune's. Ruby sat across from him on her bed after returning the board game to the spot beneath her bed.

She looked over her shoulder at Jaune to make sure he was focusing on his book again before turning back and asking in a low voice "What was that about?"

Roxas shook his head "What do you mean?"

"That was kinda a weird question to ask someone, 'been thinking?' don't you think that was weird?"

The Nobody shrugged "I guess maybe." Roxas didn't know how to redirect the conversation. He had told Jaune he wouldn't tell anybody about their talk and didn't like where this question was going.

"So you think so too huh?" she said staring at the floor with a thoughtful expression. The tension in her eyes and lips released as she appeared to dismiss her idea. Smiling again she said "Well whatever it is I guess it's not a big deal anyway."

"Yeah, probably not." He agreed, secretly thankful she had dropped the topic so quickly.

"Yeah... hey I wonder where Pyrrha has gone, it's getting pretty late." She said looking over at the empty bed.

"I don't know,"

"Well either way, she's pretty competent overall, both as a fighter and person..."Ruby paused to think "Actually I'm pretty sure she's the most mature one of us all." she laughed at this. She grabbed her pajamas and walked over to the women's bathrooms "So, I'm sure she's fine. I'm ganna get changed, tired of being in these school clothes, bleh!".

Roxas nodded as he watched her close the door behind her. He looked to Jaune and saw that he was still reading his book tentatively, it had the image of a mountain on the cover that Roxas immediately recognized as the textbook he'd initially read all the way through on his first day.

He turned and seeing his opportunity slipped the small brown leather bound book from underneath his pillow and opened to the most recent page.

Day 378: A Strange Request

Today was a pretty fun day. Ruby introduced me to what is called a board game. I'm told there are different types. The one she showed me was actually pretty fun, she won but I still did pretty good. Yang was upset about it though, but not really. I notice that she has a lot more energy than most people, even Ruby! I hope I get to play again sometime because next time I'm sure I'll win!

Our class was also taken on what I'm told is called a 'field trip' which means everyone gets to go someplace out of school but still in class. Weird term. The forest was bright red and very pretty, I had to fight a few Grimm and my hands got sticky from tree sap but otherwise it was very enjoyable. Something else happened though. Jaune, my team leader asked me to train him to fight better. I couldn't give him an answer and still can't form one now. I don't know how to train a person, I don't know how I even learned how to fight. Should I turn down his offer? Or would it be better than nothing to see how far I can help him?

He heard the bathroom door open and out emerged the dark haired scythe wielder herself, clad in a black tank top and some fuzzy white pajama pants.

"Boy that felt good!" she said with water pellets lightly falling from her damp hair. She walked over to her mattress before collapsing on the bed, quickly wrapping herself up in her blankets "Boy do showers hit the spot after a long day. Writing in that journal again?"

Roxas nodded before putting the little brown book away.

"Hey Roxas?"He turned to her as she began her next sentence "Why is it that some simple things just don't make sense to you?" she paused, seemingly hearing how that sounded "Sorry! That was rude! I just mean, I'm not saying you're stupid at all, you actually seem pretty smart. It's just that with some things you just get... lost I guess."

Roxas shrugged away the question "I guess you can say I've been secluded most of my life."

Ruby mulled over his words for a few seconds "Did you have an overprotective parent or something?"

"Something like that, yeah." Xemnas had made it clear that the organization was not to expose themselves in any way if possible, and as the leader of the XIII members he guessed that the man could be treated as a parental figure.

"Huh," Ruby again paused, thinking over her next statement "I hope you know I don't think that's a bad thing at all. I don't think less of you for not knowing stuff. I don't want to offend you."

Roxas smiled "Thank you, you didn't, so don't worry.

"Oh good," she said, the smile returning to her face "In fact if you have any weird questions, you feel free to ask me, I'll do my best to answer them. And I promise I won't judge."

"Oh good." Roxas said his face turning serious again "because I've been meaning to ask you something about what you said."

Ruby nodded, still smiling "What's that?"

"What's a 'shower'?" he said with a genuine look of confusion.

Ruby's eyes grew large as her jaw dropped, she quickly tried to regain her composure as she stammered in response "You haven't been-? It's um, it's when you take off your clothes and stand under the water and use soap to clean-"

Roxas couldn't help but start laughing as she began to list what you do in a shower "Ruby, I know what a shower is! Jeez I can't believe you actually thought I didn't know what that was!"

Ruby breathed a sigh of relief before beginning to laugh too "I was gonna say! How do you keep clean?! "

They both enjoyed a good laugh that caused Jaune to look over at them in confusion, he turned back to his book as they continued to giggle.

* * *

Pyrrha with a rushed step exited the elevator. She entered Ozpin's office breathing heavily as she stammered out "I'm sorry for being late Professor Ozpin! I only saw message after I had gotten done with my book club and then I was at the other end of the school so it took me awhile to get here and I'm just really sorry please for-"

Ozpin chuckled as he approached her, stepping around his desk to do so. He held a mug of a hot brown colored substance, steam still rising from the liquid "Worry not Pyrrha, I realize that you had other business to attend to which is why I used a scroll to contact you, and not another teacher. You are not in any trouble by any means. I merely have a request for you."

"Oh," she said with a relieved smile "That's good, I was nervous I had done something direly wrong considering it was you to call me up here personally."

"No no no," he said shaking his head. He held out the plain white mug "Hot Cocoa?

"Oh," she said, carefully taking the hot cup from his hand "Thank you,"

"Your welcome." he said with his usual smile "I always enjoy a warm drink in the evenings" He walked back to the front of his desk, picking up his mug sitting aside a small book and a set of pens. He took a sip as he stood in front of the white wood, motioning for Pyrrha to come over.

"I also have tea if you prefer," he said raising the white tea pot he kept at the front of his desk as she stepped closer.

"No, no this if fine." Her red hair waved behind her as she approached, taking a small sip of the chocolatey liquid "This is actually quite sweet, I like it. Thank you... Um, may I ask why you called for me?"

He nodded "Of course, I don't want to occupy your time for too long. I called you here merely to make a request."

"Oh? I'm sure to do my best."

He chuckled at her eagerness "I'm certain you will, you have excelled in class and proven yourself to be quite the Huntress so far. Out of all of my students I'm most impressed with how far you've come, especially given your success in combat school providing you with quite the reputation so far. My request is in regards to your teammate Roxas."

"Has he done something wrong?" she asked with concern.

"Oh no no, he and the rest of team PRJR have been nothing but stellar students so far. He has done nothing wrong. My request is only that you keep a watchful eye on him."

"A... watchful eye?" she said with a questioning tone "I don't understand, may I ask why?"

"It's merely a precaution Pyrrha. My worries may not be justified, but I fear that he may need your help in the near future. That's why I placed him in your team specifically." he said with a serious tone, his smile fading away as he spoke.

"He may need my help?" She had a look of concern written across her face "What do you mean by that?"

"Don't put too much thought into it. You are a very capable fighter and Huntress and while I can recognize the Roxas by himself is very skilled in combat, that doesn't mean he may not need some assistance in the near future. I do not mean to scare you, but I do ask you to perhaps stick close to him for the time being. Nothing may come of my concerns, but I would rather be on the safer side of things over all else." He said setting down his mug, the cup making a small clunk as he did so.

"...is he safe?" she asked with a worried expression.

"Oh absolutely, within these walls I am certain that there is no place safer for our young student. Outside of these walls, I am less certain." The older man could see the worry written on her face and inserted " but do not fret too much over the matter Pyrrha Nikos, you should know that if I thought it was a serious matter I would have assigned a teacher to the task. The fact that I am only assigning you should tell you that it is nothing too serious."

He watched her think about it for a few seconds before responding with a smile "I suppose that does make sense. Thank you Professor Ozpin, I'll make sure to keep an eye on him, sir... can I ask one last question?"

"Of course Pyrrha, it is I who am asking a request of you. It would be rude of me to deny you the same. What is your question?" He said with a pleasant smile.

"What should I be trying to protect Roxas from?" she asked in a very serious tone.

Ozpin sighed as he paused in forming a response "Every person has a future, and every person has a past. For some, this past comes back to haunt them. I know very little about our friend, but I fear that just perhaps his past has come back for him."

Her eyes grew wide at this statement, it was clear to Ozpin that the nervousness she'd exhibited had returned as she grew very still, no longer taking sips of her cocoa.

"But do not worry too much! Again my suspicions may very well be the paranoia of an old man! I do not want to scare you at all. Just go about your normal day as you normally do with your team. Just, here and there check up on Roxas is all that I ask of you."

She nodded, beginning to drink from the cocoa again "Okay, I'll definitely do my best. Is that all you needed me for?" she asked as she set down the mug politely on the table, seemingly having finished it.

"Yes , I appreciate your time. You may return to your business, I know it must be getting late and I don't want you tired for your classes tomorrow."

She nodded with a faint smile. It was clear to Ozpin that she was wrapping her mind around just what he had meant by that. He watched with a casual smile as she exited via the elevator doors contemplating to himself if it would have been better had he told her more. As he made his way behind his desk and back to his comfortable leather seat he decided it was best that he hadn't told her. Had she known that the other teachers were indeed aware of the situation and that they too were told to be more aware of Roxas than she definitely would have been given a pressure unfair for her to bear.

He pressed a few buttons and out flashed an image of the Emerald Forest, this time the camera angle was peering at shoulder level staring down a long stretch of clearing between the multitude of trees and bushes. For what felt like the hundredth time today he pressed the play button and watched the scene unfold, the black sky had left very little to see in the dark, but his eyes narrowed as he stared at the furthest point that the camera could see.

Slightly blocked by the trunk of a large oak, he thought he could faintly make out what appeared to be dark purple and black flames slowly beginning to erupt from the ground.

* * *

Author's notes: This chapter was… a lot bigger than I had intended. I usually like to end chapters somewhere around 5000 words as a rule, at the 10 page mark as I feel that is a decent size for a chapter. But this one spread out to somewhere around 6000 words. I suppose when it comes to dialog I just let it flow and it takes whatever for it wants to take, no matter how long. I also apologize if this felt a little later than the usual as my prior updates have been within the week and this is a few days off that mark. In my defense I haven't been able to write as much due to personal life getting in the way like my car keys getting stolen, followed by car breaking down, followed by immense Tekken 7 gaming sessions! I really love that game. I also apologize to those of you who expected another awesome fight, I've received some reviews telling me I should try and slow things down a tad and I think pacing would be a good idea.

Anyhow I've found a method to writing this story that should speed my process up a bit. I've been slowly forming a 'focus' library of music that whenever I hear it my fingers just start going and ideas and phrases just flow out (my favorite is 'kings and Queens' by 30 seconds to mars, I hear that intro and boom, I'm writing). So writer's block shouldn't be an issue.

Also! I've made a slight adjustment to the previous chapter and added a few lines of dialog just before the fight scene. It's not too consequential so if you don't feel like checking back, meh, you're not missing too much.


	6. Chapter 6: All Good Things

The next day Roxas was walking to his second period class mulling over if staying any longer would be beneficial. He'd already been here for several weeks now, and while he did think he was learning, he couldn't gauge if it had helped him improve any as a fighter. His goal to return to the castle that never was and ultimately destroy kingdom Hearts was still present in the back of his mind and he hadn't lost sight of it a day he spent here. He knew that being able to engage in vigorous combat was something helpful, but nothing as of late had truly pushed him in battle. Sure Yang had been a fun fight, and some others had put up a decent challenge, but he hadn't even been forced to utilize his second keyblade yet, so he knew he wasn't getting too much better. He was trying to determine if leaving and seeking another means of training would been wiser at this point given what he'd seen so far in the form of challenges. Would there even be anything more out there?

Roxas concluded that if he planned to stay in Remnant any longer that he had to find something that would truly push him, something or someone who would be able to go toe to toe with him at full potential.

He rounded a corner and veered to the right narrowly avoiding a collision with what looked to be a young redhead.

Realizing who it was he said "Oh, hey Pyrrha,"

"Hi Roxas!" she said with a vibrant smile "Want to walk together to class?" she asked innocently.

"Um, sure," he said awkwardly before their feet found a rhythm with one and other stepping down the hallway. He had never been asked by someone else to walk with him before, usually they just began to follow him to whatever his destination was at the time. He supposed that Pyrrha was the type to ask formally to walk with another person, she always felt a tad bit proper in a sense, although not in a snobbish way. She just seemed to carry herself with a sense of discipline that Roxas didn't often see from other students.

"So how has your morning been?" she asked as their steps echoed down the hallway.

"It's been fine. No homework from my last two classes so that's a plus. How about you?

"Oh it's been very calm." she said still smiling at him.

Roxas smiled back "That's good. Ruby and I had been wondering where you'd gone to last night. You weren't in bed when we got there."

"Oh I was just um... I had some laundry to do and saw an opportunity to do so later in the evening than usual." she stammered.

Roxas took note of the nervousness in her tone as she quickly answered. His eyes narrowed slightly in confusion, is doing laundry a really stressful task?

They arrived at class and Roxas sat down in his usual spot on the right hand side of the room. He found Pyrrha sitting to his right and saw an approaching Ruby, waving her hand at him as she did. He and Pyrrha waved back just as Jaune suddenly appeared in the doorway and quickly made his way past Ruby and took the sit just to the left of Roxas, a seat usual reserved for Ruby.

The ebony haired teen scrunched her eyebrows in confusion as she found a seat next to Jaune, her lip pouted in slight disappointment. Roxas turned his attention to Jaune as the blonde began to speak "Heeey Roxas,"

 _Here we go again..._

Roxas could already predict where this conversation was heading as the boy spoke "You know something interesting? I just found out today that a lot of people believe that mankind was created by Dust! You know the same stuff that we use for fuel and magic and stuff. And I was just thinking that I don't know how I feel about that, I mean, I sure don't feel very magical!" he laughed at his own bad joke before quickly continuing "How about you Roxas? Do you have anything to share? Anything that you've been thinking about?"

Roxas could tell that the expression on the boy's face was eager with wide eyes and a slight slack jaw. The nobody sighed before responding "No nothing comes to mind."

The leader of Team PRJR only responded with an "Oh," as his face changed from excited to mildly annoyed with half shut eyes and a tight lip.

Pyrrha immediately spoke up, addressing Jaune as she did so "Actually I heard that tale too! Long ago man was created by Dust to battle the many hostilities of the world which took the form of Grimm. It was a losing battle for a long time before man discovered Dust, the same material that they had been birthed from and that is what turned the tide against the creatures of Grimm."

"That's Reeeaaal interesting Pyrrha, Thanks." Jaune said in a low uninterested tone, his eyes lazily focusing on the chalkboard ahead as the teacher walked forward. Roxas could tell that the boy was upset about the response he had been given. Roxas still couldn't bring himself to accept teaching him how to fight, but also couldn't seem to simply tell the boy that he wouldn't do it.

Roxas found that Pyrrha also accompanied him to his next class,

and the next class,

and the next.

By lunch Roxas had grown rather suspicious of the young red head, she hadn't left him alone for even a moment since they'd encountered one and other in the halls, and while she was pleasant company to walk with, Roxas was hardly used to the attention. Pyrrha had always been the member of the group that Roxas got the least amount of time to talk to. Ruby and Jaune seemed to be the talkative ones, where as he and Pyrrha both seemed to reserve themselves to small comments here and there when not directly addressed.

The duo arrived at the lunch room and found Team RNBY already eating. Roxas noticed team CRDL sitting only a table away once again, except for some reason he noticed that Cardin wasn't sitting with them. In fact he couldn't see the arrogant boy anywhere in sight. As he looked closer he could tell that the group appeared nervous to a degree, quiet and serious as they talked in hushed voices. Roxas briefly wondered what was wrong before chalking it up as this being their behavior when their over confident leader wasn't around. He quickly fell behind Pyrrha who had gotten in the lunch line.

They selected their lunches and sat down, Pyrrha sitting to the right of Roxas as the members of team RNBY sat across from them along the long rectangle of a lunch table. Roxas lifted his head momentarily from his sandwich to see Ruby calmly walking over with a smile on her face. He could see that she found the cookies from the large stack resting on her tray. Just as she approached to sit down next to the young nobody Jaune suddenly pressed through the crowd and sat himself next to Roxas. Ruby appeared rather displeased as she plopped down next to Jaune, picking at her cookies with disinterest.

"Hey Roxas!" Jaune said with a brightened mood since earlier today "Been having a good day so far?"

Roxas only nodded as he took a swig of his milk. He liked milk.

"Me too! Hey we should hang out after school! You and I hardly ever get any quality time together."

"Can I come?" Pyrrha suddenly chimed in. Roxas took note of her interest as she spoke "I'd also enjoy some quality time with my friends."

"Um," Jaune appeared apprehensive, Roxas could guess why "Pyrrha I don't want to hurt your feelings but I was planning more of a boy's night out sort of deal."

Pyrrha smiled "Oh I won't be a bother! I'm only a girl if you recognize me as a girl! I promise that I can be very boy like."

Jaune frowned "Yeah... I'm not so sure about that." he returned his attention to Roxas "So how about it bud? Just two boys hanging out? I think it sounds fun"

Roxas fully understood why Jaune wanted to hang out alone. He could see that Jaune wanted some alone time to discuss why Roxas had been turning him down all this time.

Roxas spoke in a low tone "Um actually I don't think I'll be able to."

"Oh? Why not?" Jaune asked with a frown forming.

"I uh..." Roxas struggled to find an excuse "I have plans already."

"Oh... that's cool. Doing what?" Jaune asked unenthusiastically. Roxas could tell that the boy was frustrated from being turned down so much.

"Doing what?" Roxas repeated the question, trying to buy time to build an answer.

"Yeah, whatcha doing after school bud?"

"I'm... uh I'm..." Roxas couldn't think of anything that kids his age would do. He didn't even know of what people did for fun in general let alone what people did for fun in this world.

He averted his gaze to Ruby who caught his glance. He realized the look he had given her must have read 'help me!' as she suddenly blurted out "He's going out with me!"

All heads at the table turned as she announced this, her face quickly going red she adjusted her comment "Er- I mean, he's going out with us." with her final word she reached across the table and patted her sister Yang on the shoulder.

"He is?" she asked, looking just as confused as the rest of them. Ruby's grip on her shoulder tightened and with a yelp she announced "I mean yes! He is! We decided to take Roxas out to enjoy some of the foods and umm... to..." she turned back to Ruby desperately grasping for anything to merit going to town.

"We're gonna buy clothes!" Ruby nearly shouted in a panicked state, her eyes wide as she turned to the rest of the group, trying to see if she sounded convincing.

"Yes!" Yang shouted, more in approval that her sister was able to come up with an excuse than to confirm the claim. Realizing that she had brought the attention of the group back to her she turned and said "uhh, Yeah we're gonna show Roxas what Vale has to offer in the form of a meal... and we'll deck him out in some new kicks too."

The group was silently staring at them at this point. Blake and the others all with a confused expression on their faces as they tried to understand what just happened. Ren was the first to speak "That sounds nice. Hope you have a nice time." before returning his attention to his meal. It appeared he had cooked his own lunch along with Nora's as the two dined on a delicate lobster and, upon Nora's request, pancakes. The others quickly followed suit as they too returned to their meals.

Pyrrha turned back to Roxas and asked "You wouldn't mind if I tagged along would you?"

"Umm... well it's just that we've uh, been planning this for a little while now and wanted it to be just us three." Roxas tried his best to sound convincing. He did not want to be tailed any longer by Pyrrha as, although he didn't find her unpleasant, he could tell something was up.

She appeared discouraged as she mumbled a "Okay..." and began to eat her food.

Jaune also seemed to get the picture as he too began eating quietly.

Roxas breathed a silent sigh of relief before turning to Ruby once more. She and Yang had both slumped back down in their seats and looked exhausted from their little routine. When she looked back at the young nobody he mouthed the words 'Thank you'. She nodded with a thumbs up as Yang looked back and forth between the two still with the look of confusion written on her face.

* * *

The trio found themselves at the front of the school, finally separated from everyone. Yang quickly asked as they began to walk down the front stone path"Okay, so that was really weird at lunch, what was that about? You know you're old enough not to need a chaperone if you want to go on a date with our blonde friend here Ruby."

Roxas tilted his head not exactly understanding why Ruby's face was growing so red from the comment "That's not it at all!" she huffed "Roxas looked like he needed help finding an excuse and that was the first thing to come to mind."

"Yeah, it was my fault. I'm sorry" Roxas stated sincerely, he didn't want to have to drag them into his lie, but he hadn't been fast enough. He made a mental note to get better at lying on the spot.

"By the way" Ruby began "Why did you need an excuse in the first place? Why were you avoiding Jaune and Pyrrha like that?"

Roxas decided to be honest, or at least, partially "Well I noticed that Pyrrha was sort of following me around today, like, non stop after second period. It bothered me since she's never really done that to me before."

Yang laughed "Maybe a certain little red head has a crush for a certain little blondie, has she-"

Ruby seemed to dislike that comment as she cut off her sister "What about Jaune? You two have been acting strange about something for a couple days now. What's up?"

Roxas struggled again as he desperately tried to come up with something that would make sense. Again he failed and with a sigh of defeat he said "Jaune asked...a favor of me a couple days ago and has been looking for an answer ever since."

"What's the favor?" asked Yang with a devious smile.

"He... asked me not to tell anybody." the nobody answered honestly.

Yang laughed as she began "Look at you pulling tail left and right! I didn't think Jaune swung that way, but hey, growing up with that many sisters must have an affect on ya right?"

"Yang!" shouted an embarrassed Ruby.

"What?" Yang asked innocently "He knows I'm just kidding, right Roxas?"

Roxas held his perplexed expression "Kidding about what? I didn't understand the first comment."

Yang laughed again "Really? Well you see what I meant by 'swung that way' is-"

Again cutting her sister off before she could finished Ruby asked"And why haven't you answered him?"

"Because it probably won't be the answer he wants."

Ruby shook her head, ignoring her sister's protests of being cut off multiple times "So? If you're not honest with him then you are doing yourself and him a disservice. Honesty is the most important part of a friendship, or any sort of relationship really. If you keep leading him on-" Yang let out a laugh "Then nothing will be resolved. You just gotta let him know that you can't do whatever favor he is asking of you. If he is really your friend, he'll understand."

Roxas smiled and nodded "Thank you Ruby. That's really good advice, I'll make sure to go do that."

"Sounds good!" cheered Yang "Now let's get going! I'm hungry and I want to go to that one little shop with all the good fish."

"Wait we're actually going?" he asked somewhat surprised, he had thought that what they had said was just a lie for him to get away from Jaune and Pyrrha.

"Oh you bet that we are! I had to sacrifice my actual plans for this! It's a Friday and we are going to have some fun!" cheered Yang as they made their way to the helipad.

Ruby laughed as she appeared to mimic her sister's enthusiasm. Roxas smiled as he realized that he didn't actually oppose the idea at all. It actually sounded fun to go out and explore more of the world like he had wanted. He grew excited as he began to picture what he would find.

* * *

 _-several hours later-_

This... was not what he had been expecting.

The town had been nothing he hadn't seen before in comparison to the other worlds he'd been to. The buildings were brick and concrete and the roads paved with asphalt. Nothing he hadn't seen before in Twilight town. The shop Yang had been talking about did really have some pretty good fish that Roxas admitted he probably ate a little too much of. Afterward as the sun was setting they continued to fulfill their plans for the night at a clothes shop, Bold Havy if he remembered the name right. The two girls had been having fun picking out clothes for him to try on, trying to find a look that 'suited him' as they put it. Yang was having fun picking out amusing attire for him, such as a bright pink skirt and a 'man bra' as she put it. He only started to try on the skirt after much convincing from the Blond that it was a rising trend for guys before Ruby stopped him.

Currently he was standing in front of the two with dark black pants on that stretched all the way down to his white footwear bearing on the sides an intricate black design that took the form of wings in it's complexity. His torso was covered by a black vest with a v-cut neck with a gray zipper running down the center. Just over that piece of clothing was a white outer shirt with sleeves that extended to just above his elbows and black borders that ran along the bottom of the shirt and sleeves. Checker pattern lines ran along his shoulders and rib cage meeting at a right angle. His collar was a vibrant red that ran along his neck, further accentuating the white and black color scheme.

Roxas thought he looked pretty cool as he stared into the mirror, but if he had learn anything from his time spent here as a lesson from Yang, it was that his fashion sense wasn't all too great given everything he'd even attempted to try on. He turned back to the girls who sat each in a chair peering at him intently. They had selected this combination of clothing together to form this outfit once yang started to help for real, and it appeared that they were deciding themselves if they had done a good job.

"I like it." Yang finally stated with a smile "I think it suits you."

Ruby, cupping her chin in her hands narrowed her eyes as she leaned forward, looking Roxas up and down as she did. She rose from her seat and circled the nobody, who stood awkwardly in place trying his best to remain as still as possible as she inspected him. She quietly sat back down before her serious persona finally broke down "I think it's great! A good look for you Roxas!"

He smiled, relief flooding his senses as he allowed himself to move again "Great, I don't think I could handle too much more shopping."

Yang laughed and said "Me either, I was running out of funny stuff to have you try on."

Roxas shook his head with a frown "I don't know why you felt the need to have me try all that stuff on."

Yang giggled as the trio made their way to the front "Because it was funny of course!"

* * *

Walking down the road with the night sky high above their heads the three students contemplated whether or not they should wrap up the night with a movie before heading back. Yang was insistent on an action movie where as Ruby was looking for a comedy as it appeared that the theater didn't have a film to satisfy both needs in one flick. When they turned to Roxas for a tiebreaker he could only shrug and tell them that he had no opinion on the matter.

"Why not? What type of movies do you like to watch? C'mon now." pleaded Ruby.

Roxas shook his head "I've um..." he took a moment to decide if he should admit to never seeing a movie before before realizing it was pointless in hiding it "I've never seen one before."

Both Yang and Ruby's collective jaws dropped at this statement. They both grabbed one of his hands and almost in complete unison decided " **Both**." as they began to drag the teen with them towards where Roxas assumed the movies must be.

Roxas laughed as they seemed so serious about the matter. They had a determination written on their faces that reflected expertly performing some sort of advanced or serious task, not taking someone somewhere to have fun.

 _Are the movies a big deal?_

Just as he had this thought he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head to look and saw a figure shrouded by the night dart their head behind a wall leading into an alleyway. Roxas narrowed his eyes at the movement before wiggling his hands out of the sister's grasps.

"Sorry I think I left my scroll back at the shop, I'll catch up with you okay?"

The two nodded understandingly before turning back and continuing on their way to the theater. He briefly questioned why he hadn't been able to come up with an excuse like that at lunch before going to investigate. Turning the opposite direction he casually began to stroll over towards the alleyway, walking in a manner that suggested he was indeed heading back towards the shop. Just as he began to pass the alley however he darted into the darkness, searching to see just who had been there moments before. He found no one, but could hear the sounds of feet tapping against the asphalt echoing away.

The young nobody gave chase as he bolted deeper into the alley, following the path as it took a sharp turn right and back into the road. He could barely see the figure quickly crossing the street as they fled, although he couldn't make out any distinguishing features. He saw a low hanging rusty gate was in the way as he ran and went to leap over the structure to continue to give chase. However he realized he must have misjudged the height of the gate as he found the very tip of his shoe catch the metal and send him crashing to the ground. Roxas scrambled to his feet, addressing a minor scrape on his elbow before looking back towards where he had last seen the assailant. He could see no sight of them and cursed under his breath at his failure.

Mumbling to himself the whole way back he found a message on his scroll detailing how to reach the theater from where they had split up. He found them with little trouble and after brushing off Ruby's concern about his elbow, went in to enjoy the film.

They got themselves some popcorn and soda, both items Roxas had yet to try and was pleasantly delighted after the initial taste, although he didn't particularly enjoy the sting of the bubbles hitting his tongue. They sat down in the theater and Roxas was openly impressed at the number of seats available.

"Whoa, this many people are gonna show up to see this thing? This movie has to be pretty good huh?" Roxas said in amazement.

Ruby sitting on his right giggled at his observation "Well no actually this is just how many seats they leave available just in case. All of the screens are this big."

"Oh, right." Roxas stated only slightly embarrassed. He didn't particularly enjoy how the seat angled his back so forward but saw both Yang and Ruby press a button on their leather seats that caused the back support to lean back with a metallic buzz. He quickly found his own and did the same, smiling as he enjoyed the new comfort. The bottom front of the seat suddenly popped out as he was doing so, acting as a foot rest that Roxas enjoyed even more.

"Cool huh?" Ruby said as she offered the large container of popcorn they had grabbed. Roxas nodded as he grabbed a small handful and plopped it in his mouth, savoring the buttery salty goodness as he chewed.

Roxas didn't really begin to enjoy the first movie until halfway through as before then his mind was still preoccupied by who that person was exactly who fled into the alley. He had weighed out the idea that it was just some random individual as it definitely felt like they had been tracking him for some reason and they had obviously fled trying not to be caught. Had it been someone from Organization XIII? No, he reasoned, if it had been someone from the organization then they wouldn't have had to run, they would have just summoned a dark corridor for their escape.

 _Could it have been that silver haired boy?_

He thought this over for a minute. While that character did wear the coat of the organization, that didn't mean he possessed the same abilities as those, so it was possible that he wouldn't have been able to summon a dark corridor to leave. Roxas shook his head at this idea as well. From what he could remember of the boy who turned into that man with an odd resemblance to Xemnas, He was much bigger and the build of the person who had run away was slightly thinner, if not shorter as well.

Roxas was pulled out of his thoughts finally as Ruby tugged on his arm and said "Oh oh did you see that!?"

Roxas looked up and saw the main protagonist as he had caught two large missiles both of which had threatened to destroy the land he was standing on. From What Roxas had vaguely followed of the film so far, this guy was trying to protect his land from the bad guys who wanted what was just underneath. Some sort of rare material, it's name was forgotten by the nobody.

The young nobody decided to put his thoughts to rest for the time being, he'd be able to think about this later, when he wasn't supposed to be experiencing his very first movie.

* * *

The first movie hadn't been as good as the next film which had been Ruby's choice. It was the comedy that she had picked and although some of the jokes had been lost on the nobody, Ruby explained that those jokes had been jabs at pop culture, he did find himself laughing over the other scenes in the film in which the main character, a stupid electrician named Bobby, continues to electrocute himself in his attempts at fixing a problem that he just kept making worse.

They left the theater chatting nonstop about the movies they'd just experienced. Yang adamantly defended her pick for the action movie, telling Ruby that the fight scenes were good and that's all that mattered. Ruby argued that the plot was still horrible and made the fight scenes less intense because the dumb premise left little weight for the outcome of the battle.

"It honestly just felt like the writers just wrote the story for the fights and nothing else, like they shot those fight scenes and then they realized 'oh wait we have to make a movie out of this' and then went from there."

Yang rolled her eyes "Whateveeer, I liked the fights regardless of the story, I just wanted to see some action you know?"

Ruby sighed and said "Yeah you always do haha. Which movie did you like better Roxas?"

"I liked the second movie. That one made me laugh."

"Hah!" Ruby suddenly turned to her sister "He liked mine better, mine was the superior choice."

Yang suddenly pulled Ruby into a headlock "Yeah? Well my movie taught me how to beat up annoying little sisters, what did your movie do?"

Ruby squirmed beneath her big sister's arm, desperately trying to escape her grasp but ultimately failing in the effort. Finally she slumped as she realized that she would not be able to slip through "It taught me how to talk the talk but not the walk," she grumbled, reaching out for Roxas in a plea for help.

Yang laughed as she let go and they continued their way back. Roxas discretely began scanning their surroundings, taking close inspection of every dark corner or shrouded rooftop as they ventured down the road.

 _If they were stalking us before... they are probably stalking us now._

He struggled to maintain his focus on their surroundings while still keeping up the pleasant conversation in an effort to appear relaxed. Meanwhile, he felt more tense than he had in a long time, his nerves getting to him as he didn't know what exactly he should expect. It reminded him of the times during his stay with the organization when they would send him on missions to defeat an entirely new heartless. When he was up against a shadow or any heartless that he was familiar with, he experienced nothing but calm collected decision making, he knew how to defeat this opponent because he knew what type of opponent he was facing. When he was sent on missions to defeat something that no one had ever fought before there was always a lingering doubt in the back of his mind that maybe, just maybe he would fail, and it would be he that was defeated in the ensuing battle. That he would make a mistake that got him destroyed, that got him killed because they did something he never would have expected. They pulled out a technique that completely caught him off guard and that would be it. The worst part of that doubt was that he knew that if he failed, that if he was unable to defeat that particular heartless and fell instead, that his very existence would dissipate.

He knew that when a nobody dies, a being without a heart, there is nothing that remains.

Just as Ruby suggested that they all get ice cream for the ride home Roxas spotted what he had been looking for. Running alongside the trio was a large green park with several trees scattered around the area. He found his stalker peeking out just behind the trunk of one large thick maple tree.

"Gotcha..." he murmured under his breath as he quickly looked away and back in the direction they were walking. He still kept the shadowed figure within eyesight however as he noticed a nearby shop that was still open despite the late hour.

"Hey I hope you don't mind if I use the bathroom really quickly in here," he said, somewhat astonished that he had been able to come up with two good excuses since the awkward scene at lunch.

"No problem, we'll wait out here." responded Yang.

Roxas quickly entered the shop, completely ignoring the owner's friendly greeting as he made his way to the back room where the bathroom was clearly labeled. He entered and shut the door behind him, locking it before immediately summoning a corridor of darkness and using his memory of where he had seen the stalker to use as his destination. He stepped through and once again found himself in the night air, standing next to the large tree he had seen earlier. He saw that the stalker was dressed head to toe in black, a dark black hoodie and some jeans. He also noticed that they and had moved up by one tree, crouched 10 feet away with their back turned to him. They were spying on Ruby and Yang who were making idle conversation as they waited outside the door.

The nobody summoned the oblivion in a flash of light and closed the distance between them in an instant, he swung the blade and embedded it into the wood merely inches from the person's face before barking "Who are you and why are you following us?"

The stalker's resulting yelp and wild roundhouse kick was not what Roxas had been expecting. The blow caught him square in the jaw causing him to stumble back before regaining his footing. He caught them trying to make a break for it but quickly charged them and pinned them to the ground. He threw back their hood to find-

"Pyrrha?" Roxas said in shock. The young woman appeared embarrassed and frustrated as he was on top of her, pinning her arms to the ground with his own.

"Yes, it is me. Can you please let me up now?"

Roxas was quick to stand again before helping her up "It's been you stalking us this whole time? But why?"

Pyrrha sighed at the question, looking puzzled herself "How did you manage to get behind me so fast? I just saw you go into that shop, there is no way you could have-"

He interrupted her, the shock wearing off and annoyance taking its place "I asked you a question first. Plus **you** were stalking **me**. I don't think you get to ask questions right now Pyrrha."

"Okay Okay, I'm sorry. I'm also sorry for kicking you in the face and tripping you when you chased after me."

Roxas resisted the urge to ask why she was sorry for tripping him when he had fallen over a rusty gate and instead asked "Why were you following us?"

"Well technically I'm not following them, I'm only following you..."

Roxas shook his head, he was so done with specificity "Okay, so why were you following me then?"

Pyrrha looked down, avoiding his gaze "I... don't know if I should say."

The nobody crossed his arms "What, were you told not to say?"

Pyrrha shook her head "No, not explicitly."

"Then tell me." he ordered, feeling increasingly frustrated.

The young red head paused, he could tell that she was mulling it over in her head before she finally answered "I was asked to keep an eye on you by Professor Ozpin."

Roxas took a second to process that comment. It would explain why she had been following him around all day "Why would he ask you of that... are you saying he doesn't trust me or something?" he supposed that Ozpin did have reasons to be suspicious, but Roxas hadn't taken the man to do something like this.

Pyrrha quickly shook her head, in an apologetic tone she said "No no no, He sounded more worried about your safety over anything else, like he was trying to prevent something from happening to you."

"He wanted to keep me safe? But from what-" His eyes shot open as he started to put the pieces together. There was only one reason that Ozpin would assume that he would need protection.

And that was if the organization was back.

"He said that something about your history coming back to haunt you,"

Her statement merely confirmed his suspicions as he sighed. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as he could see the fright still fresh in her eyes, she was nervous about him being angry it was clear.

He spoke with calm slowly returning to his voice "I understand now. But why didn't you tell me about this?"

Pyrrha shook her head "I thought it was something Ozpin wanted kept secret. I figured if he had told me but not you he must have had his reasons, right?"

"...I guess that makes sense. I need to think right now... probably visit Ozpin and see what tipped him off..." he began to mumble to himself, mulling over his options.

"Um... so now what?" Pyrrha interrupted his thoughts.

"Hmm?" he said, looking back up and meeting her gaze. Her emerald eyes stared back at him questioningly "Just head back to the school. I promise you I'll be fine on my own. I should probably be getting back to Ruby and Yang, they are probably thinking I have food poisoning or something."

"Oh okay... I apologize again for stalking you... I just didn't know what I to do when you said at lunch you were going to town. Professor Ozpin said specifically that within the walls of Beacon he was sure there is no safer place for you. Outside, out here, he wasn't so sure."

Roxas nodded taking note of that comment, why would he say that? He said reassuringly "Don't worry too much about me. I can handle my own for the time being. And I accept your apology, I know that you were only doing your best to try and keep me safe. Now go back home. Me and Ruby will be back to the dorm soon."

She nodded before turning and beginning to walk away, after a few steps she turned back and said "Roxas, I have... just one more question before I go."

"What's that?"

She paused, seemingly unsure of how to ask her question before just blurting it out "What exactly is after you? Or maybe I should be asking, **who** it is that is after you?"

Roxas thought over what he should say, should he really reveal the organization to her at this time? She did seem to be in deeper than anyone else given Ozpin had already told her. He decided to tell her what really mattered "Ozpin was right about telling you that our history comes back to haunt us. Do you know that black coat I'm always wearing?"

She nodded "I thought it was awkward combat attire but I didn't question it."

Roxas was briefly offended that his coat was considered awkward before continuing "Well the people who are after me all wear coats like that one. If you see someone who isn't me in that coat, know that they are not a friend."

She nodded, understanding his warning before questioning "Roxas... does you wearing that coat mean at one point you were allies were these people who are now chasing you?"

He nodded.

"...Roxas, did these people do bad things? Is this why you are running away from them now?"

He paused with a sullen look, his eyes suddenly fixing themselves towards the ground. He slowly nodded again.

"Did...did you do bad things?" she asked with a quiet voice.

His head remained down as he couldn't muster an answer. After several seconds of silence he heard her approach and to his surprise felt two arms wrap around him as she pulled him into a hug.

"Well I'm glad you are no longer apart of whatever they are. You made an effort to leave them and it matters more who you are now then who you were then. I'm glad that you are out of that coat now that I know what it means. You look really cool in your new outfit anyway." she said as she stepped back and looking him up and down "Ruby's work?" she asked.

"Yang helped too." he answered.

"Well you look very nice." she said with a bright smile that he subconsciously returned.

"I probably should take off now, Yang and Ruby are probably wondering what's taking you so long."

Roxas nodded "Alright, see you. And thanks."

"No problem."

The two departed and Roxas waited until she was out of eyesight to summon his portal once again. Stepping through he quickly emerged from the bathroom and found his way to the entrance of the store where Yang had grown impatient.

"Sheesh you took a long time in there, you okay?" she asked with a slight attitude.

He only nodded before responding "Everything is alright now, let's go."

* * *

Ruby brought up the rear as she had begun playing a game on her scroll to pass the time and was currently walking with her head facing down, eyes locked on the screen. She was only barely following by keeping track of Yang's golden hair with her peripheral vision when she suddenly had the urge to look behind them. Something in her instincts telling her to be aware but when she did she saw only a single figure down the road. The person's hood was up but she could tell they were facing her.

"Huh, he has a coat like Roxas's...I wonder if they shop at the same place..."

Noticing that she was being left behind she turned back around and dashed after her friends calling "Hey wait up for me!"

"Then stop playing your video games for a a second and pay attention!" called back Yang.

"Nevah!"

 _ **Author's note:**_ _This chapter was originally actually planned to be a lot longer than it became, but again just like last chapter it grew much larger than originally intended and I had to cut it off here to maintain consistency otherwise the next good cutoff point would have been almost a whole another chapter long lol. I probably would have had this done yesterday as it had been mostly finished but I encountered a strange glitch where my 'T' and''Y' and backspace keys would not respond for the whole day. Just before I went to bed I decided to try it once more and found to my delight my keyboard working again with no issue. So I was able to complete it today at lunch, and then some as the rest of the day was rather uneventful and I had a lot of time on my hands._

 _That being said it is true that the next chapter is already a couple pages in and unlike some chapters I know exactly where I am going with it, so it shouldn't be very long before the next chapter is out. I think I may be able to maintain the weekly updates I've been doing considering how motivated I am feeling towards with story with all the support I've been receiving as of late. Thank you for your consistent reviews and I hope that each chapter is something to look forward to!_


	7. Chapter 7: Must Come To An End

When they got back Pyrrha was already in bed along with Jaune. Ruby briefly wished Roxas a goodnight before the two both climbed into their respective beds.

Before he laid his head down to rest he decided to pull out his Journal, using his scroll for light as he wrote.

 _ **Day 379: What to do**_

 _ **I think that the organization may have found me. The headmaster issued that one of my team members should stay with me at all times. I think that means he saw one of them. I'll have to go ask him to make sure, but I don't think I'm safe here anymore. The people here are strong, much stronger than any people I've encountered in any other world, but I doubt that anyone here would be able to stand up to someone from the organization.**_

 _ **I'm wondering if I should just leave, but I don't really want to go anymore. I haven't found a good challenge to help me train yet, but I did finally get to experience a little bit more of Remnant. Ruby and Yang both took me out for movies and some new clothes (I look pretty good by the way) and I actually had fun. It was fun like the times I had ice cream with Axel and Xion-**_

Roxas paused as his pen made the last stroke spelling out the name 'Xion'. The name had come to him so naturally, but at the same time it felt foreign. He said it aloud a few times, sounding it out in his mouth and it felt like another language as he said it, but there was some sort of familiarity to the word that gave him a sense of deja vu at the same time. He questioned who that person was, or who that person had been to him as he thought hard about the name.

Before long he was resting his head on his pillow having already put his journal away. His eyes were already half closed and he could tell that sleep was coming to take him soon, but at the same time he was desperately trying to recall who exactly he had been writing about. He remembered them on the clock tower with he and Axel, and he could also recall them enjoying sea salt ice cream with him as well.

 _Were they a friend of mine?_

Roxas couldn't put a face to the name as he thought about the topic, now that he was focused he could finally begin to remember... someone with an organization coat sitting atop that tower with their hood up, hiding their face.

The teen decided that he could think about this in the morning and shut his eyes before hearing a strange noise generate from the center of his room. He groggily lifted his head and found black and purple flames slowly forming from the carpet in the center of the room.

Immediately recognizing those flames he leaped out of bed, summoning the oblivion and Oath Keeper to each of his hands as he prepared himself for whoever was coming. The dark corridor formed itself and out stepped forth a tall man clad in the outfit of the organization, his hood up covering his face.

Roxas dashed forward, swinging his two key blades as he did so but found a resistance as the two weapons came only inches away from the man's head. He looked down at his arms and found they had been halted by misty deep black hands of giant proportion. He immediately recognized this darkness from before and looked up with a snarl. The man pulled back his hood once more, revealing the face of Xemnas that the silver haired boy had become in their fight.

"I've found you." he said with a chuckle, crossing his arms.

The nobody's eyes grew large with fear as he realized that he couldn't break free this time around, he was being slowly pushed towards the corridor of darkness and towards whatever plans this man had for him. He released a loud scream as he was submerged into the darkness and everything went black.

* * *

Suddenly Roxas felt himself being shaken from the darkness as he heard a voice call out his name. His eyes flashed open and he shot up from his bed sheets, sweat covering his forehead and neck. He saw Ruby, Jaune and Pyrrha all standing in their pajamas aside his bed staring at him with concern. The morning light was peering through the curtains as Ruby began to talk "You were screaming in your sleep, it scared all of us."

Roxas's deep breathes slowly adjusted to normal "I was... dreaming?"

"More like having a nightmare I'm guessing." Jaune said concerned.

"What were you dreaming about?" asked Pyrrha

"I..." Roxas thought about his dream, reviewing it in his mind before answering "I... don't remember." he couldn't tell them without revealing the past he wished to keep secret.

"Really?" asked a surprised Ruby before shaking her head "Well either way it must have been pretty bad. Do you want to get some breakfast to take your mind off it?"

"Breakfast sounds good right about now." he admitted.

* * *

After a shower and changing into his recently acquired outfit as looking at his coat ran a cold shiver down his spine, he met the rest of his team down at the lunch hall which was as expected pretty empty aside from a select few students. Saturdays tended to have their students sleep in on their day of rest. They all sat down with their food and began their idle chatting. Roxas took note of Jaune who had decided against sitting next to him this time freeing a seat for Ruby to plop down. She appeared happy as she did so.

"So what do you guys want to do today?" asked their leader with a content attitude.

The whole table seemed to turn to one an other as they tried to see if any of them had any ideas. Blank stares were all they received and in turm returned.

"I guess we're all ears if you have any suggestions." spoke Pyrrha.

"Oh is that right? Hmmm... well I guesswe could go into town, see what we can do there."

Roxas saw the raven haired girl sitting next to him groan "Meh, I don't really want to do that. Yang, Roxas and me all went down there just yesterday."

"Yeah I'm feeling a little tired of being out and about as well." Pyrrha added.

Jaune turned to her "Why are you feeling tired of going out? Have you been spending a lot of time out and about?"

Eyes big she said "Oh, no no, I just don't feel like it I suppose." before casting a knowing look towards Roxas.

The nobody in question had been remaining quiet for the duration of the conversation before he heard someone call his name. Looking up from his plate he asked "What?"

"I asked you what you might want to do today." said Jaune.

"Oh," he said in response "Honestly I don't think I want to do anything today. I kind of just want to hang out you know?" in all reality he just wanted to separate from this group as soon as possible. In the back of his mind he still knew that the organization or someone at least was out there looking for him, and he needed to find out from Ozpin just what he was dealing with here.

"Oh," Jaune responded appearing somewhat let down from his team's responses "Well maybe something tomorrow huh?"

"Sure, sounds good." responded Ruby as she pulled out her scroll, seemingly feeling a message vibrate on her leg. Looking down at the message she suddenly grew excited "Ooooohh! Yang just sent a message asking if I wanted to join her for another game of Domination of Remnant!" Turning to Roxas she asked "You in?!"

"Maybe later, I just thought of something I need to get done. I'll call you if you two are still playing later."

"Oh okay," she said with a hint of disappointment.

Pyrrha seemed to pick up on this as she said "Actually I think I might want to join you in your game, have room for another player?"

"Me too!" responded Jaune.

"Well, it is a four person game. You guys can join in." Ruby said with her mood rising.

"Perfect!"

* * *

The teen departed as the rest of his team left to the dorms. As he made his way to the headmaster's office he thought over what he would do depending on the information he was given. Should he move on? He only risked endangering his friends by staying here any longer if it was true that the organization had finally found him. He had no doubt in his mind that they would use them to their advantage to get to him.

He rode the elevator in stern silence before the doors parted open. He stepped into the spacious office and found the professor sitting behind his desk watching what appeared to be a video. He wasn't alone however as Ms. Goodwitch had pulled up a chair beside him and appeared to be trying to contain her laughter, as was he. He heard what sounded like a crashing noise come from the video and the two burst out laughing as a response before Goodwitch noticed the young nobody stepping forward.

"Mr. Roxas!" she said startled, erasing her smile and quickly replacing it with her usually stern look "What is it that you may need?" she said very professionally.

"I came here to speak with Ozpin about something he told Pyrrha." he said bluntly.

The smile that had maintained itself throughout Roxas's arrival slowly began to fade from Ozpin's lips "I see, Ms. Goodwitch would you please excuse us for the time being?

She nodded before heading towards the door. Roxas noticed that she was missing a sock and that her hair was slightly askew but paid it no mind as the elevator doors closed behind her.

"So what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" he asked calmly, more serious than Roxas had ever seen him before.

"I want to know just what made you have Pyrrha guard me like that."

The headmaster motioned for Roxas to come and step behind his desk, he did so and Ozpin quickly switched the image from what appeared to be a cat video to one that resembled the forest Roxas had arrived in. The image was still and very dark, but Roxas could still make out the trees and leaves along with most of the foliage resting on the ground.

He pressed play and Roxas watched with narrowed eyes. It wasn't long before he spotted the signature mark of erupting purple and black flames positioned just beyond a large tree. The corridor formed itself and for several seconds Roxas watched in suspense as nothing stepped out. Finally he saw a black boot step out of the swirling darkness and attached to that foot came a barely recognizable figure as the person indeed bore the attire of the organization. With the hood over the figures head Roxas watched as they slowly turned their head left, then right seemingly surveying the area. They only stayed for a few seconds longer before stepping back into the darkness before the corridor which quickly dissipated into nothingness.

Roxas watched as the video ended before just as Ozpin began to speak "I discovered this tape four days ago. That's why I had Pyrrha tail you."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

The Professor sighed "You've been prospering here Roxas, you're grades have been well and your level of combat is matched by few. I see you becoming quite the hunter some day. I was afraid that by showing you this, that you would leave, flee Beacon and abandon what I see could very well be a prosperous future for you."

Roxas barely reacted to the comment, taking several moments before responding "You were right." before turning and heading towards the doors.

"Roxas! I assure you that you need not worry here! You are safe here, this I am certain of."

the nobody paused just as he reached the doors. Summoning a portal he turned and asked back "but are the rest of you?"

* * *

He stopped by the dorm only to change out of the clothes he had been given by Ruby and back into his usually black coat. He knew he couldn't run from them, so why pretend he was anything different from what he was? He started to head towards the front doors but paused as he gripped the door handle. Turning back around he decided to make one last final entry in the journal he had been given by Ozpin.

 _ **Day 380: My last day**_

 _ **The organization is here. They have found me. This will mark my last day here at Beacon. I'm leaving.**_

 _ **Goodbye.**_

Just as he wrote the last word he heard a frantic knock on the door. Roxas hesitated as he decided whether he should just use a corridor of darkness to escape or if answering the door would be okay. The knocking seemed panicked, which ultimately lead him to find out what was wrong.

He swung open the door and found team CRDL all huddled around the door with desperate expressions. All aside from Cardin, who was no where in sight.

"What do you three want?" Roxas asked with a scowl, assuming that they were looking for a rematch from their last scuffle.

The one with the brown hair said with haste "We...we need your help... He's taken Cardin."

Roxas's stubborn demeanor dissipated and was replaced with confusion "What? What are you talking about?"

"We failed and now he's taken Cardin... we failed and now it's all our fault..." murmured the boy with the Mohawk standing behind the lead. His eyes were empty and aimed at the ground as he spoke quietly to himself.

The brown haired boy again spoke up "The man in the black coat has taken Cardin."

* * *

They explained as they began their walk to towards the exit. Roxas already knew what people were behind this, he just never expected them to attack a set of people so... distant from him. He more expected them to steal away a friend or someone close, someone who could more easily twist his arm. Cardin was hardly that person, but that didn't mean the nobody planned to leave the boy in the hands of the organization. He didn't deserve that surely, despite what he had done.

"Why did they take Cardin?"

"They? There was only one man as far as I could tell." Responded the boy with the brown hair who had later introduced himself as Dove Bronzewing after Roxas had began walking with them "And They took him because-"

"They took him because we didn't take you." interrupted the boy with the silver hair who Roxas learned to be name Sky Lark. The blond teen took note of how similar these two boys appeared to one and other in their armor scheme as they both had a chest plate reminiscent of Carden's armor, although less detailed. In fact their entire armor scheme appeared identical aside from being of a different metal, one apparently steel and the other bronze, matching their hair colors.

"What... do you mean by that?" Roxas asked very confused.

"...They took him because we failed... because we are cowards..." mumbled the boy with the shaved heard and brightly colored Mohawk who Roxas had come to know as Russel Thrush. He stood out in the group now that he thought about it. Where the others all had armor theme as their attire he was clad in only a green hoodie with the sleeves cut off and a strap of brown leather running across his chest from his shoulder to waist. His pants were dark gray and boots a brown leather, nothing like how his team mates dressed themselves.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Roxas as the kid had been mumbling to himself those same set of words the entire walk so far.

"Don't mind him." answered Dove "He's just shaken up is all. He was the only one to wake up in time to try and stop the man in the coat from taking Cardin. The guy was able to just... appear suddenly in our dorm when we were all asleep and pulled Cardin out of bed into this... I don't know what to call it."

"It was like a dark swirling vortex or something." chimed in Sky.

"Yeah that. Anyway before he could step through Russel here leapt out of bed and did his best to try and stop him. The guy wasn't even fazed and seemed to move lighting fast, knocking him out."

"We wouldn't have even known what happened if Russel didn't tell us when he came to." said Sky.

"I see." Responded Roxas still thinking "How long ago did this happen?"

"About a day ago." responded Dove

"A day ago?" Roxas said in shock "Have you told any of the teachers? Ozpin?" Roxas didn't know for sure how things were supposed to work here, but he thought that adults here should be told of the situation.

"We've... been scared to." admitted Sky.

Roxas stared at him with a loss for words "I... don't understand. Why are you telling me but not them?"

"Because we were told not to...well more like threatened not to." seeing Roxas's expression of confusion, Dove continued to explain "A little while after we were contacted via Cardin's scroll telling us to bring you to him, or else we'd never see Cardin again. And, if he were to see anyone coming with besides you, or even give a hint that we told anybody else about our situation... well, Cardin wouldn't be around any more."

"Since we've seen him just like, teleporting in and out of anywhere we've been, we've been scared to discuss it with anybody else besides each other in case he shows up." said Sky.

Roxas thought back to when he had seen them at lunch in hushed voices discussing something urgent. Cardin hadn't been with them then either.

"You still haven't told me one thing." he said as they stepped out of the school. He stopped and they followed suit "Why did he take Cardin? How did you guys 'fail'?"

Dove sighed before nodding "I'll start from the beginning. It was after school on the day when you stood up to Cardin at lunch like a week ago. We were out in the emerald forest getting some training in on Grimm, Cardin, working out his frustration on how we'd basically been shaken down by you and your friends, by killing Grimm, when we were approached by someone. The moment Cardin saw the coat he thought of you and attacked him, we all joined in to help him, but were no match. It was only after beating us that he offered a proposition. I think Cardin said some mean spirited words about you since he recognized the guy as you at first, even thought he was taller."

Roxas quietly thought over the fact that almost everyone at the organization were taller than him. Self conscious about his height in the moment, he listened on.

"The man told us that our interests fell in line with one and other, that he was here to collect you. He told us that you and he are part of a very dangerous organization and that your strength was similar to his own. He told us that you were dangerous to the people around you, and that if we were able to disable you and bring you to him we would be doing a great service to our school."

"Why didn't you question why he wouldn't just come get me himself?" Roxas was wondering this too, although he could imagine that remaining incognito by any means would be in the best interest of Organization XIII. He had never specifically been told why, but he had always been trained to avoid people if at all possible. Maybe that was to protect the motives of the organization, maybe it was to protect the members of organization XIII from those who would influence them to turn against such a cause. Was everyone there fully aware of what they were doing? Or were some of them like himself, and just went along with it because they didn't have another cause to stand for. Roxas couldn't know.

"We sorta asked that. He told us that he was part of something bad, and as such him stepping foot on those grounds would trigger the resistance of the entire school board. Even though he told us he was doing the right thing by removing such a dangerous member from their clutches."

Roxas nodded, somewhat understanding. Although he could tell whatever decisions led to this situation must not have been good on their part.

"Blinded by the idea of grander from revealing to the world that you are a part of an evil organization by capturing you and by the rage he held for you at the time. Cardin accepted... and we just kinda went along I guess."

"That's why you kidnapped me?" he nodded "Then why wasn't I given over to him?"

"Because -I'm sorry for that now by the way- because as we were carrying you out at night Cardin and the rest of us started to lose our nerve on going through with this. I started asking if were really knew everything and that maybe we were actually doing a bad thing. Cardin thought about it and decided not to take you out to the woods like we originally planned. The man had told us to bring you off of school grounds so that he may collect you safely, but Cardin said he needed time to think. We cleared out that shed and put you in it because at that point we really didn't know what to do. We tried to get a hold of the man in the coat but Russel who we sent out couldn't find him at the meet up location. We panicked then, and and around the same time you started to wake back up... Cardin tried to play it off like we were getting revenge but honestly we were just trying to knock you out again or something so that we could figure this whole mess out."

"So when you say he took Cardin because you failed... He took Cardin because you wouldn't bring me?"

Dove nodded "He told us it was a cost for failure. And not to do it again."

Roxas paused for a short few seconds, taking in everything he had just been told as the sun began to set."I understand now... Wow this is a mess. Well I will do my best to bring back Cardin. He's not the best but he doesn't deserve this." Roxas spoke in a serious tone, turning to face Dove as he did.

"Yeah you're right, he doesn't deserve this." said Dove in an equally serious tone. Roxas didn't notice Russel as the boy pulled out a rope and began to creep up just behind the nobody.

* * *

The remaining team members of CRDL arrived at their ordered coordinates. They identified it as a run down house of sorts, the structure was primarily wooden with the once white paint dirtied and peeling off. The house itself looked structurally unsound as the many sections of the peeled away paint revealed rotten and water damaged wood that appeared ready to give way.

Behind them bound by rope and being pulled along the ground was Roxas, limp and unresponsive as they opened the door hanging on one hinge and brought him inside.

The interior of the home was an even more disappointing sight than outside. With the floor being wood panels many areas had already given way due to water seeping in through the many holes in the ceiling. This left many large holes in the floor big enough for a person to fall in. Without any furniture as it was clear the structure had been long since abandoned, it left an eerie feeling in the pit of team CRDL's stomachs. The room was dark aside from the quickly fading light casting in from the setting sun through the cracked and broken windows, it seemed that living in Emerald forest probably didn't bode well for the people who had lived here before. Too many Grimm.

Just as their eyes began to adjust to the darkness they caught movement from the corner of the room. Russel pointed it out as the man wearing the black coat pushed himself off of the wall he had been leaning on.

"Well done. I didn't really expect for you three to succeed."

He stepped forward and into the light, looking down at the three before turning to inspect Roxas, he tried to step past them to get the the blonde but team CRDL positioned themselves in front of him.

"What do you think you three are doing?" he said his face still obscured from his hood.

"A deal's a deal!" barked Sky "We brought you Roxas, now where is Cardin?"

A chuckle emitted from the hooded figure "You are right... a deal is a deal."

He raise a hand and from the floor came the familiar dark portal they had seen before. Not two seconds later Cardin came bursting out of the corridor, clad in only a tank top and sweatpants screaming "LET ME OUT!" as he did so.

"Cardin!" his team cheered as they rushed past the hooded man to their friend and leader, seemingly paying no attention as the man stepped over to Roxas who remained still on the floor.

"Hehe too easy..." he reached down and went to grab one of the three ropes binding the young nobody's arms to his chest and pick up the boy. Just as he began to lift Roxas he found the rope immediately snap, noticing then that the rope had been shaved down to a single string at one point, barely hanging on.

"What the?" he spoke in confusion as he stared at the loosely dangling string in his hand. Just then Roxas's eyes snapped open and he pushed out his arms, easily tearing the remaining ropes off of his torso and summoning the Oath keeper to his hand in one motion. Sitting up he capitalized on the hooded figure's shock by swinging a violent blow that hooked the man's legs, swiftly bringing him to the ground. Roxas leapt to his feet as he brought the key blade above his head. He could see that team CRDL had all regrouped and were rushing towards the fallen hooded figure, following the plan as they all prepared to pounce on the member. Roxas's blade fell like an anchor directly towards the hooded figure's head, but just as it barely made contact the space around the man appeared to distort and warp, just before he vanished entirely.

Team CRDL had closed the distance at this point and stared down at the broken bit of wood at their feet where Roxas's weapon had smashed through in confusion "What...? What happened?"

The young nobody's eyes narrowed in thought before snapping open "Crap!" he shouted, whipping around and summoning his Oblivion to his other hand as he did so. He got in a ready stance as he faced outward towards the rest of the house. He knew who he was dealing with, there was only one member who could do that.

"Hehe, well done kiddo, I must say that was quite the plan. Probably would have worked too, had it not been **me** you were up against."

Roxas tracked the voice and found him in the right corner of the house,shrouded in darkness and casually standing on the ceiling.

"No reason to try and stay hidden. I already know it's you Xigbar." Roxas said in distaste.

Chuckling he responded "Right you are." before the space around him distorted again and he appeared standing in front of the door, only a few yards away.

He drew back his hood as he appeared, revealing a confident grin and that signature scar that ran up his cheek and to the bottom of his remaining eye with the other covered by a black eye patch. His yellow eye stared Roxas down before he spoke "You're coming with me Roxas. I'm either bringing you back, or the organization has ordered me to destroy you. Those are your two options."

"They only sent you out here to do that huh?" Roxas glared at the man trying to gather just how many were here to face. he was also silently buying himself time thinking about just how he would be able to combat Xigbar. The young nobody had seen what the man could do, and for the most part, Roxas had rarely seen an enemy Heartless touch him before due to his ability to alter the very space around him. However, Roxas also remembered how the man was somewhat arrogant with his abilities, and this was what made him sloppy.

He shook his head "They sent everybody out. You're everybody's target right now kiddo, I bet the rest of the members are still all out searching in world after world for you. I was just the first one crazy enough to check here. I guess I got lucky."

"Crazy?" Roxas inquired "What makes you crazy for following me here?"

Xigbar chuckled "Let's just say that there is a reason you, along with every other nobody in the Organization was never ordered here on a mission."

"What does that mean?" Roxas barked back.

Xigbar shook his head "That's not important. Like I said, everybody including Xemnas is waiting on you to return to be resolved."

"What, do they have nothing better to do?" Roxas responded coldly, still trying to think of a reason why this world was so heavily avoided.

Xigbar sneered "Oh we do. Which is why it is so crucial that we resolve your problem one way," his choice of weapons, the silver metallic arrow guns flashed into his hands "Or another."

Roxas had one more question. One that had been tickling the back of his mind ever since he was told of the situation this morning "Why would you use them?" he motioned to the students behind him "Why hide behind them like this? Why didn't you just come get me yourself?"

Xigbar sighed before he spoke "There are forces that even I don't want to tangle with Roxas. Bringing you here, using them. Well, it evened the odds up a bit kiddo."

The younger nobody wanted to ask more as more questions flooded his mind but before he could ask Roxas watched as the space around the man again distorted and in an instant he was gone. Pushing these questions to the bottom of his priorities, he readied himself for the upcoming attack before he heard his voice again "You seem insistent on fighting me Roxas. Understand that this will be my last warning for you to return to the Organization. Otherwise I will destroy you, traitor."

"W-What is happening right now?" Russel stammered.

"You should all leave. Get out of here while you still can." Roxas said as he turned his head left and right, trying to distinguish where his voice had come from, but this time it had sounded as if it were all around him.

He saw the flash of a purple beam surge towards Cardin, forcing him to whip around the boy and slash the shot out of the air. Roxas snarled as he quickly lifted the Oath Keeper and roared "Fira!" at where the projectile had come from. The surge of flame shot through the air like a bullet, penetrating the darkness and illuminating the form of Xigbar just as the space around him again distorted. The attack passed right through him as he again warped out of existence.

The resulting explosion quickly ignited the dry rotted wood. Team CRDL and Roxas both stared in shock as the flames began to spread along the floorboards.

"Oh well done Kiddo, nothing like a good fire to get the party started." snarked Xigbar who had appeared standing horizontally on the south wall, directly opposite of the quickly spreading flames.

Roxas whipped around aiming down the nobody with his Oath Keeper "Shut up!" he shouted before announcing "Aero!" a violent gush of wind shot across the room and reached the arrogant form of Xigbar before he could react. The resulting force slammed him against the wall with a terrible crack as the wood began to give way.

A wind formed around Roxas and appeared to aid him as he dashed forward and took to the air, closing the distance between he and Xigbar before the older nobody could recover from the blow. Roxas slashed out with the oblivion catching the sharpshooter across the chest before following it up with a lunge into the man's gut with his Oath Keeper. Xigbar grunted in pain as the resulting force was enough to send him splintering through the already damaged wood and out into the tree line.

He struggled to regain his footing, holding his stomach as Roxas continued to press his advantage. The younger nobody shot through the hole in the wall faster than a bullet, raising the Oblivion above his head just before bringing it down on Xigbar. The attack failed to connected however as the sharpshooter had managed to raise both of his guns, using the barrels of the weapons to form a cross and stop the attack.

Roxas attempted to use his still free Keyblade to swipe at Xigbar's midsection but found the attack passing right through him as again the space around them distorted and he vanished.

Roxas spun around, scanning the trees intently as he tried to decipher just where the man had warped to this time.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Team CRDL all bursting out of the front door of the now almost completely engulfed abandoned home. The flames were hot and Roxas could feel sweat running down his face from standing so close. The team came out gasping and Dove was the first to regain his breath and ask "Where is he?"

Roxas shook his head "dunno, you guys need to leave. I don't think you'll be much help here."

Sky was the first to respond, his halberd shaking in his hands "Seems like a good idea, guys?" Cardin and Dove both shot him a dirty glare, where Russel appeared too busy scanning the tree line to pay attention to the idea.

"Our plan was to take down this guy together. You helped us get Cardin back. How could we-" before his statement was finished a high piercing sound rang out and a bright purple light barreled it's way into Dove's chest, knocking the teen back and onto the floor.

He lay stiff and unmoving as the rest of his team all hollered out in shock and fright. Each reaching down and trying to get a response from the boy. Sky dropped to his knees and placed his ear to Dove's lips before breathing a sigh of relief "He's alive, if only barely. We need to get him out of here now."

"Go." Roxas said, raising a hand and summoning a dark corridor from the ground "This will take you back to Beacon. I can handle this."

the boys all hesitated as they stared at the swirling darkness, then back at Roxas with concerned faces. Roxas sighed before saying "It's perfectly safe, now go before you lose your friend."

Cardin and Sky each took Dove by the legs and arms and carried him through the portal. Just before Russel entered the portal he turned and wrapped his arms around Roxas, calling out unusually loud "Be Careful!" as he initiated the embrace.

Roxas thought the action was extremely strange as he stood awkwardly stiff with the boy hugging him tightly before he started to whisper in Roxas's ear "Just over my right shoulder, thirty yards back, crouched on top of a tree branch." he pulled back and stared at him with a seriousness Roxas hadn't expected "don't waste it."

He ran through the portal before the corridor closed. And Roxas quickly turned adjacent to where the boy had said, scanning out of the corner of his eye to verify the sharpshooter's position without making it too obvious that he had found him. Sure enough, Russel had been right, there was Xigbar, crouching on a branch shrouded in darkness, his two guns brought together to form the signature sniper Roxas had only seen him use a handful of times before.

Thinking on his feet Roxas decided to turn the other way and call out "I found you creep!" before dashing further into the treeline and hopefully out of sight. He summoned a dark corridor just in front of him as he ran and sprinted through it, charging forward as he emerged just behind the older nobody.

Roxas spread his arms wide and brought them together in a vicious movement that struck Xigbar's ribcage like a snapping pair of scissors. The sharpshooter hollered out in pain as the blows landed and he pushed forward, falling off the tree in an attempt to get away from his attacker. Roxas was having none of it however as he followed the nobody down, using the momentum of the fall to bring down both keyblades on the older man's shoulders as they reached the leaf covered ground.

There was a definite cracking sound as the attacks landed and knocked the man to the ground. Roxas pointed the tips of his weapons at Xigbar's chest who stared back up at the younger nobody in shock just as he uttered the word "Firaga!"

The resulting explosion engulfed the area, forcing Roxas back as the push was too great. When the flames finally dispersed he found that Xigbar had vanished.

"I gotta hand it to you kiddo." Roxas heard the voice from behind him, but when he turned around he found no one.

"I really didn't expect you to catch me off guard like that." this time from the left, but again upon turning his head he found nothing.

"But I assure you that **won't** be happening again." he said this with malice in his voice as Roxas spun around and only caught a glimpse of the air returning to normal from a slightly warped and distorted state. Just then, Roxas felt a hot beam burn his back shoulder, causing him to stumbled forward and grimace from the pain. He whipped around and lifted his Keyblade but before he could utter a spell a second surge of purple light shot out of the darkness from a different direction, striking him in the hip this time. The next shot came from his left and allowed Roxas the reaction time to strike to shot out of the air with a blurring whipping motion but felt the next shot penetrate his coat and burn the center of his back. He called out in pain as he felt the beam strike.

"Screw this!" he shouted before lifting his Keyblades towards the sky and calling out "Aeroga!" The air around him suddenly began to violently surge until they formed a small tornado that tore through the surrounding trees around him. Roxas caught sight of Xigbar being pulled from one of the trees and immediately took to the air. The man was obviously discombobulated as he flipped uncontrollably within the air currents.

Roxas rode the wind as he bolted from his position towards Xigbar. Upon reaching the elder nobody he unleashed a flurry of strikes all landing and causing his opponent's body to jerk and contort uncontrollably as the attacks continuously repositioned his body.

"Enough!" shouted Xigbar as he finally regained his composure. He again used one of his sharpshooters to deflect one of Roxas's swipes before the space around him distorted and he warped out of existence.

"NO!" shouted Roxas as he dropped to the ground, whipping his head side to side as he did so. He narrowly ducked under a beam that had been aimed at his temple and raised his key blades above his head once more "Aeroga!" he shouted again with even more ferocity this time. The winds around him whipped hard and even managed to pull the trees up and out of their roots as they did so. Trees rocks and dirt swirled around Roxas as he continued the spell, but no sign on the sharpshooter in his winds. He released the tornado and allowed it to disperse, hurling trees and rocks across the forest as he did so.

They came down with a loud thud as Roxas panted heavily from exhaustion. He had put just a little bit too much energy into that last spell and fatigue was starting to show.

"Sorry Roxas, but you can't use the same trick twice. Not on me." he could hear the man shout somewhere further out into the tree line and darkness. The stars were out and Roxas noticed that flames had begun to spread to the trees around him. He turned around and saw the forest ablaze, the house being the center of the heat as it continued to spread. Roxas felt bad for being the one responsible for such devastation, but at the same time he knew he had much bigger problems to deal with.

"Coward!" Roxas shouted, trying to see if he could prompt the sniper to reveal himself. All that comment earned him was a painful bolt of purple energy that struck him in the ribcage.

He grimaced and held his side as he listened to Xigbar retort "Not cowardly! It's called being tactical kiddo!"

Another shot fired out from the darkness, this one Roxas was able to block with the side of his Oathkeeper. Suddenly, a flurry of shots from the opposite direction flashed into existence giving Roxas only barely enough time to dive out of the way without taking the brunt of the damage. As he rolled, his legs and ankles were still hit a few times each, leaving the nobody to rise shakily to his feet.

"Face it kid." announced Xigbar "You've got no chance."

Roxas didn't waste his time responding. The odds really weren't in his favor. The younger nobody understood why Xigbar had chosen this place to be his hideout. The trees made for easy, plentiful cover and considering his fighting style, that was about all he needed to win. The darkness also didn't help Roxas's vision as he did his best to scan the trees around him in hopes of being able to block whatever attack was soon to come his way, although Roxas struggled to come up with a plan to counter attack if that time every did come.

He needed to smoke him out, which gave Roxas an idea. Although hesitant at first, upon another series of energy bolts striking his left bicep his resolve crumbled, along with the usage of his arm as it dangled limp and severely burned at his side. His shout of pain echoed throughout the treeline and roaring flames just as the attack landed.

His Oblivion dropped to the ground as he raised his remaining weapon high above his head, aiming towards the sky as he roared "Thundara!" He pushed all of the remaining energy he had left into the attack, striking the dry leaves and trees surrounding him with bright, powerful streaks of lighting and immediately setting them aflame, further progressing the spread of the quickly moving flames.

His weapon dropped to his side as he looked around, inspecting what he had done. The plan worked, the flames were licking at the sky and made it impossible for him to see past and into the darkness. Everything was lit with a bright orange glow as Roxas stood in the center of the quickly growing flames, his face and body covered in sweat from the intense heat.

Roxas knew that this wasn't a good situation for him, but he also knew that if Xigbar wanted to get to him, he would have to enter this ring of light.

"No more hiding!" panted out Roxas.

"Heh, I don't know if I even need to anymore." the man responded as he appeared in front of Roxas, his scarred face looking even more menacing from the light of the flames "Looks like that arm has seen better days kiddo."

"Shut it!" Roxas spat angrily, his grip on the Oath keeper tightening as he lifted the blade, readying himself the best he could.

"Whoa boy Roxas. Looks like a fire has been lit, and I'm not talking about the one quickly spreading around us. Well done on that kiddo, Axel would be proud."

Upon hearing the name of his old friend Roxas found his anger slightly lessened, but he was done with talking. He knew that Xigbar was trying to draw out the time so that the heat got to Roxas before he had to.

Roxas Rushed forward, trying to close the gap between them before the man could disappear again. Unfortunately, the younger nobody was just a second too slow with his strike, allowing Xigbar to warp out of view. However, Roxas made a lucky guess as he spun around, flinging his keyblade in the direction he predicted the man would be, directly behind him. Seconds after Roxas initiated the Strike Raid Xigbar appeared just where Roxas had guessed he would be.

The attack caught him completely off guard and knocked him off his feet, sending him stumbling backwards into the flames.

He roared with anguish as the flames made contact with his body, engulfing him. Roxas watched the air around the man's body distort just before he vanished yet again.

He re-appeared only two yards away on Roxas's left. Still within the fire ring Roxas had made, he held his face in pain with one hand and carried his remaining arrow gun in the other.

"That... hurt. That hurt a lot!" he roared at the boy, peering at him from between his fingers.

Roxas remained silent as he stared at the man. Roxas felt so tired as he tried to maintain his composure. His arm hurt and his whole body felt burned and sore from all the bolts that had struck him. His legs protested his standing and his chest hurt with every rise and fall of breath. He knew this had to end quick.

Just as the teen took a step forward towards the burned man, re summoning his keyblade as he did so, Xigbar again warped away. Looking all around him, Roxas found no sign of the elder nobody. Roxas them saw a bright purple light shine just over head. He looked up just in time to watch a large bolt of energy pass his ear and strike at his right should with a force that sent the boy to his knees.

"GAAAH!" Roxas screamed upon impact. He dropped his Oath Keeper as he fell to the ground, trying to move his arm but every movement sent a jolt of pain up his shoulder.

He looked up and saw Xigbar standing horizontally as if the air itself was a platform as he aimed down the scope of his combined weapons, again forming the sniper variant Roxas had seen before. Roxas saw the next shot coming and dived to the left to avoid it. Looking back up as he did so he saw Xigbar readying his next shot.

Roxas struggled to come up with a plan as he prepared to avoid the next attack, but the flames closing in around him were making it difficult to move.

Just as Xigbar began to pull the trigger another sound boomed through the forest, a familiar boom that Roxas had heard before.

The sound of a very powerful sniper rifle.

Roxas watched with shock as Xigbar's body jerked in the air as the bullet penetrated his torso. The nobody's mouth opened, slack jawed as he looked down at the bullet hole in his chest. Roxas could see that the man was trying to say something but appeared to struggle just before dropping from the sky and into the massive flames down below.

Roxas caught sight of a speeding red blur moving his directed as it parted through the flames with such a speed that it blew out the ring of fire Roxas had formed around himself.

Ruby suddenly appeared from the blur as she stopped standing just in front of Roxas.

Her eyes were wide with worry as she stammered "Are you okay?"

Roxas stood rigid and with wide eyes, still trying to process what just happened. Ruby looked him up and down, noticing the burn holes through his coat and the limpness in his arm "Oh jeez! That looks bad! C'mon! Lets get going! We need to get you checked out!"

"How..." Roxas spoke slowly, still dazed and confused "How did you... find me?"

Ruby stared at him, noticing his bewilderment before answering "We were all hanging out in the front of the school when Cardin and his team all suddenly appeared from nowhere and began telling everyone about how you were out here 'fighting for your life', as he put it as he raced into the school... I think he was trying to get Ozpin... when we saw Dove being carried in unconscious, we all started running. I was just the first one to get here."

"Oh." said Roxas as he stood there. He began to feel a heat at his back and turned to see that the flames were quickly returning to the areas that had been blown out before.

"We need to get out of here now!" Ruby stated before grabbing Roxas's hand and pulling him with her as they took off, escaping the fire. Roxas turned his head as they ran, looking to the spot where he had seen Xigbar fall, wondering if the man had truly been consumed by the fire, if the nobody he had known was truly gone.

 _Completely gone... nothing left when a nobody dies._

He thought before returning his attention towards where they were heading.

It was a few minutes before they ran into Pyrrha, and Yang both dashing full speed through the tree line towards them. The group came to a stop as they found each other.

"I called the rest of my team, they should be on their way." Yang stated with a seriousness that Roxas was unfamiliar with "Are you two alright? What happened?" she looked Roxas up and down, noticing his injuries as she did so.

"We're alright." Ruby answered "I... I saw someone up in the air and he was shooting down at Roxas with this weird weapon. I pulled out my Crescent Rose and had a clear shot. I took it." she said with a solace to her voice.

"Oh." Pyrrha seemed stunned "So... is the person... gone?" Roxas could tell she was choosing her words carefully.

"I think so." Responded Ruby quietly.

"...We should still be careful..." Roxas spoke suddenly, thinking over the previous chain of events nervously. Was Xigbar really gone? Personally he didn't really know the man very well, but he still had worked with him before. It was strange for Roxas to envision that someone who once fought for the same cause as himself was now... gone, forever. He didn't know if he believed it.

"Who... was that Roxas?" Ruby suddenly asked "Why was that man attacking you like that? Why did he look like he was wearing the same type of coat as you"

"He was..." Roxas struggled to come up with an answer. He couldn't hide from this. He had to tell the truth, or at least part of it "He was someone from my past. He came to collect me, to bring me back to the life I had before."

"What does that mean? Who were you before?" asked Yang

"...I stood for a cause that I shouldn't have, I was a big part of their organization and did a lot to help them. and this coat is from them. This is what we wore to show that we were part of the Organization."

"Oh..." Both Ruby and Yang looked bewildered by the information. Only Pyrrha appeared relatively unaffected by the news given she had already heard it.

"I'm sorry. That probably doesn't sound too good huh?" Roxas asked.

"I... I mean I guess I just don't know." Ruby responded not meeting his gaze as she stared at the ground.

"He's not apart of them now at least! We can see that he's done doing whatever he did seeing as they see him as their enemy now." Pyrrha spoke up in defense of the young nobody, her eyes looking back and forth between Yang, who appeared more surprised than hurt by the revelation, and Ruby who looked like she was genuinely conflicted with finding this out about Roxas's past life. It was clear that she was thinking about what had been said, before a look of clarity spread across her face. A few quiet seconds went by before a smile began to form from Ruby's lips. She looked up, beaming at Roxas before wrapping him in a gentle hug, aware of his burned and injured arms.

"Either way, it's clear that you aren't the person who stood with them before, you're more than who you were before and that means a lot."

"Thank you." Roxas said with surprise. He thought for certain that they would feel deterred from working with him if he ever told them about his past life. Maybe that meant that he would be able to tell them more about himself? Maybe they would accept him if he told them, told them who he was, and what he was.

Roxas pushed the thought aside, thinking to himself that he shouldn't jump to any conclusions just yet.

Yang just shrugged "Doesn't mean too much to me. So what you did some weird stuff with some sort of strange team. As long as you're still cool, we're cool." she finished her statement by raising a thumbs up.

He smiled back at her as Pyrrha confirmed "Of course. It doesn't matter who you were. It matters who you are. Just as long as this is all behind you now"

"Thanks." Roxas said with his smile only slightly fading. Given what Xigbar said about the Organization searching for him, he knew that this battle was far from over.

 _ **Author's note:**_

 _My apologies for how long this chapter took me. Life has been leaving me with few opportunities to write and my motivation had been down. Yesterday I suddenly felt it return to me and helped me wrap this massive chapter up. This one is double the usual length resting at over 9000 words so I hope that it was an enjoyable read and somewhat remedies the wait.(I know there was an 'over 9000 joke there, but I chose note to use it.)_

 _Anyway I also struggled with this chapter because I didn't exactly know how to utilize Xigbar properly in a fight. I knew I wanted him to be the one that found Roxas, but being a sharpshooter made it hard for me to envision ways for Roxas to combat him. I hope what I wrote was at least somewhat believable._

 _My next chapter may take longer than the previous ones as I'm slightly burned out after this chapter. But maybe my motivation will refill from the reviews and the massive support I have been receiving, which I absolutely adore. Thank you to everyone who reviews, follows and favorites my story as it motivates to to continue on to the next. Speaking of which..._


	8. Chapter 8: A Change in Scenery

Roxas laid his head down but didn't sleep. Instead he waited for the sound of everyone else climbing into bed to fill his ears before he reopened his eyes. He remained still for 20 minutes longer to assure that everyone truly was asleep before he pulled the sheets off and rose from the bed.

He was still sore from the fight not hours ago, his arms moved slowly as to not trigger an shocks of pain shooting up his biceps and shoulders.

He was quick to grab his coat again before noticing the holes and tears in the fabric that had accumulated from earlier. He briefly questioned if he should still put it on, before deciding on trying the attire he had been given by Ruby and Yang. He put the coat on above the outfit before summoning the dark corridor. He stared at the swirling darkness for a long time, turning his attention between Ruby, Jaune and Pyrrha and the portal several times as he thought over the decision he had made on their walk up here.

He had decided that he needed to follow through with his previous plan. To leave here now that it was unsafe with the arrival of Xigbar and he guessed soon the rest of the organization. Surely the man would have told the rest of the Organization about his findings here or at the very least his absence would lead a search party to uncover just what happened to the second in command within Organization XIII. Roxas also debated with himself on whether they would pursue him at all given what Xigbar had said before their fight. If the Organization really was weary of this world, maybe losing one of their members to it would result in them steering clear of such a place. Ultimately Roxas couldn't take that risk. Roxas had concluded that Xigbar had only stolen Cardin because he hadn't known anyone else that was particularly close to Roxas. The young nobody knew that if they ever managed to get a hold of his team, that they would have a far stronger grip on him than before. Not only that, but now that he had destroyed another one of the Organization's members, Roxas was sure that the next nobody to come wouldn't be coming to collect him anymore, they would be coming for blood.

He couldn't have anyone else step in front of he and what was his fate. This was his responsibility and Roxas knew that. He couldn't have the rest of his team try and sacrifice themselves trying to protect him. He wouldn't allow that to happen.

Roxas found that he had made his choice as he stepped through the portal just before it vanished entirely.

* * *

Roxas found himself down in the town that Ruby and Yang had shown him before, walking through the streets that held a vague familiarity from several nights ago. He found the small park that he had seen Pyrrha hiding in during her mission of stalking him and laid his head back on a tree as he sat down, his legs and arms on fire already just from the small trek to this point. Physically he had seen better days, although he guessed that he would be fine in a few days. The young nobody had taken hits like these before and assumed that his recovery would match that of the usual. all Reviews will be responded to via pm

Before he knew it he was waking up to the sound of birds chirping and a bright sunrise greeting him with a pleasant warmth that spread onto his face and hands.

Standing again, he thought about his friends back at the school. This would be about the time they woke up in the morning for class. They were probably noticing his empty bed right about now. As if confirming his thought he suddenly felt his pocket vibrate as his scroll began to ring. He rummaged through the pocket to find that it was a call from Ruby, rather than answer it however he turned the device off. He knew that he was going to be getting a lot of calls and messages and didn't want to be feeling his leg constantly vibrating. He didn't want to abandon his new friends, but he also didn't want to lose anyone else, he convinced himself that this was the best. Maybe one day he could allow himself to return, once Organization XIII was no more, once it was safe.

Until then he needed to focus. He needed a plan.

* * *

Roxas spent the day wandering the town, staring at the many shops and people as he passed. He didn't know where to go. He didn't know where he **could** go. What option was a safe one with the Organization on his tail? He was hesitant to try and travel to any other world for three reasons. Number one being that he now knew that they were all looking for him, meaning that if he left to a world he knew that there was a possibility of running into one of them since all of the worlds he knew how to get to were ones shown to him by Organization XIII. Two being that he at least knew that it was safe, or at least, safer here than any other place given that Xigbar was gone, meaning that at least for the time being, no one was here tracking him down. Plus there was was the fact that apparently, the organization doesn't like sending members here, for the reason that there are seemingly forces that Roxas was unaware of that could threaten them. And finally, his third reason being that his coat was damaged. Roxas didn't know exactly how the coat worked, but he did know that it was his protection from the darkness when he used it to travel through dark corridors. He knew that traveling within the boundaries of a world using the darkness was harmless enough, even without the coat as long as it wasn't for too long. But to travel to an entirely new world would result in a prolonged exposure to the darkness, an exposure that Roxas was uncertain his coat could handle in its given state.

Which finally lead to Roxas's conclusion.

"I'm stuck." he said aloud, frustrated at his predicament. He couldn't leave until his coat was properly repaired for risk of being consumed by the darkness of traveling to a new world. He couldn't return to Beacon because he would endanger his friends, not to mention that would be the first place the organization would look for him. He speculated that they would leave them alone upon discovery that the young nobody had left, leaving his friends alone and safe.

He mumbled under his breath as he thought of what exactly he should do now that he was on his own, with limited options and no real way forward.

"What... can I do?"

As he walked a sharp pain ran up his arm. He winced as he pulled up his sleeve, looking at the burn mark staining his forearm. He stared down at it long and hard, recognizing it as a result of his battle with Xigbar. The battle that he nearly lost. With that thought his original goal returned to him, he remembered just what he had decided he needed to do. He had to be able to defeat the organization. He had to make things right again.

"I need to get better, I need to become stronger."

* * *

The next two weeks were spent primarily within the Emerald and Never Fall Forests. The two locations he had been shown were infested with Grimm from his time at Beacon. He had taken to adjusting his sleep schedule so that he rested in town during the day and hunted during the night, noticing that Grimm appeared to be more plentiful when the sun went down. He got in the habit of exploring, searching for those rare locations where large, usually powerful Grimm hid, searching for what would be his challenge and push him further than he had ever pushed himself before. He would sometimes settle for a large herd of Beowolfs if there were enough, but otherwise the common Grimm just weren't enough of a challenge for him. A single swipe would do in even the largest Ursa he'd come across.

And so he hunted for what would be stronger.

At the moment, Roxas had found himself within the darkness of a deep, wet cavern. Using a torch for a light source he traversed the cave, growing increasingly excited as he took note of the lack of Grimm within the darkness. Usually in a space like this he would find countless Grimm held up, enjoying the darkness and preparing to attack any who were as unfortunate to enter their dwelling. Roxas, however, had failed to find even one so far.

 _Which means something else must be living here... something that even other Grimm are scared of..._

He thought this as he pressed forward. Today he planned to train his magic capabilities. He had been focusing on specific skills during each hunt as to further progress that ability. Yesterday he had been focusing on utilizing his melee combat while in the air; meaning that he purposely leapt into the air with each attack no matter where the opponent stood as to better train himself to avoid attacks while air born.

He planned to not even summon his keyblade during this hunt. He wanted to see if he could handle an opponent with only his magic. He knew that magic was his most lack luster ability, seeing as he tired out after only roughly five or six spells, so he wanted to break that trend.

He came across a point where the cavern suddenly angled itself downward and formed a steep drop into the darkness. He summoned a fira to shoot straight down, illuminating the cavern as it made its descent. He saw the cavern drop roughly 40 feet before the fira made contact with the floor. Seeing this he stepped out into the darkness, allowing himself to fall as he did so. Carefully timing an aero spell, he was able to slow his descent and land with a light 'tap' as his feet touched the ground.

Just as he began to continue forward he suddenly heard a noise echo down to him from deeper in the cavern. He froze the second he heard this sound, trying to confirm that he wasn't mistaking the sound of his own footsteps echoing off the walls and back to him. A few seconds later confirmed his suspicions as the noise rose again, a loud scuttling sound; Like hammers hitting the stone tiles in rapid succession, but from a distance.

Roxas noticed that the sound was growing louder, like it was coming towards him as he stood in place with wide eyes. His torch was hardly illuminating the area in front of him which appeared vast as the cave widened to the point that he couldn't even see where the walls on either side of him started.

"Just a big open space... for something really big..." Roxas murmured to himself. He fought the urge to summon the oblivion as the sound grew closer and louder, more violent and terrifying at the same time. He could tell something was rushing towards him for quite a distance away, but that gap couldn't be more that 20 yards away at this point, given how close it sounded.

Roxas realized at this moment that he was basically a beacon in the darkness holding the torch in such a usually dark space. Just as the noise was almost 10 feet away Roxas threw the torch to his left, and watched as a massive spider like creature ran charging into the flame, it's massive golden tail piercing the wood with a swift strike that immediately splintered the torch and extinguished the flame. Roxas held his breath as he was shrouded in darkness, staring at where he had seen the massive beast as he did his best to remain calm and thinking. From the short time the flame had illuminated the Grimm he couldn't recall a single thing that resembled what he had seen in those short seconds. Most Grimm looked like something reminiscent of other worlds he's seen, the Ursa looked like bears, the beowolfs appeared like wolfs, this thing... was something Roxas had never seen before. It had spider like legs on either side of it's massive flat body shielded by armor that Roxas had seen Ursa equipped with before. It front of what Roxas assumed had been its face were two giant crab-like pincers, each the same length as Roxas was tall. Lastly Roxas had seen the back of its body curve up and thin so that it formed a tail that appeared to hang at an awkward yet intimidating angle that left it above it's body, and from what it had been able to do to his torch; Roxas could tell that it could do some serious damage.

Roxas hesitated as he stood in the darkness, hearing the clicking sounds of the Grimms feet as it sounds as it it was turning. Roxas realized at the last second that this creature had turned towards him as he heard the sound of something pierce the air and heading straight for him. He darted back and watched the stone where he had just been standing was shattered with that familiar golden tail appearing imbedded in the rock. Roxas questioned how the creature had seen him so easy in pitch black darkness before he made the connection that this creature had been literally living here, no doubt it had adapted to the dark.

Thankfully, Roxas had grown used to the darkness himself from the majority of hunts had been spent out at night as he narrowly avoided another deadly strike from the creature's tail. His eyes now adjusted to the darkness he reached out and took hold of the golden tip again imbedded in the ground from the ferocity of the strike and shouted "Blizzaga!" the resulting frost explosion encased the tail in ice, freezing it to the ground it had been stuck in. Roxas felt a cold chill run up his spine as the beast roared in anger at his actions. Unnerved but not deterred he aimed the palm of his hand towards the creature's face and shouted "Fira!". The flame erupted from his palm and exploded upon impact, engulfing the beast as the cinders and smoke rolled past it. The smoke cleared away revealing to little surprise that Roxas's attack had done little to penetrate the Grimm's tough armor. Roxas noticed the the heat of his attack had melted and weakened the ice holding the squirming golden tail still just beside him. The ice shattered as the tail whipped up and back to it's ready position just before striking deadly fast aimed at the nobody's chest. Roxas, feeling annoyed at his own mistake of freeing this limb stood still as the strike came towards him. He stuck out a palm just as the sharp point came inches from his hand and uttered under his breath "Blizzard."

The ice formed itself in less than a second and dug into the sharp tail as the two forces collided. The projectile held fast as the needle point of the golden tail snapped from the impact, resulting in a roar of anguish as the beast began to scuttle back. Roxas watched as the eyes of the Grimm turned from Roxas to it's damaged tail and then back to the nobody. He took a step forward and smiled as the beast retreated in unison.

Raising a palm he said "Let's finish this."

* * *

Roxas felt exhausted as he re-entered the town he'd been hiding out in for the time being. He had struggled to find a method to pierce such strong armor but had found success in using blizzard before following it up with an aero. The result was a splinter of ice shards that all were shot like bullets from the air pressure. The ice acted like daggers that easily cut through the Grimm as if he were butter. Roxas had liked the move so much that he began to think up names for the attack.

"hmmm... winter blitz? No no no... Ice storm? That's not bad..." Roxas wasn't paying attention as he walked down the path and suddenly felt a hard object crash into him.

Roxas fell back as he heard another voice call out "Oof!"

the young nobody lifted his head and noticed a strange looking girl laying on her back in front of him. Roxas returned to his feet wondering why it had been so painful to walk into her before saying "I wasn't paying attention. You okay?"

He offer his hand as she stared up at him with a calm smile. Roxas couldn't help but notice just how stiff she appeared as she laid there "Oh I am quite alright. How are you feeling?"

"I'm... good." he responded awkwardly, wondering why she wasn't taking his hand to get up "do you... want to get off the ground?"

"Certainly!" she responded , quickly taking his hand. Roxas found himself struggling to help pull her up as she felt much heavier than he had expected. She was a slim girl with red hair that curled inward at her shoulders and light green eyes. She wore a gray dress that stopped at her thighs and thigh high black stockings. Roxas's couldn't find what had made her so heavy to pull up.

"Salutations! I hope I did not inconvenience your day!" she said with a bright smile and strange optimism considering she had just been knocked to the floor.

"Oh um... you didn't." Responded Roxas.

"What is a ice storm? Is it similar to a winter storm?" she asked inquisitively.

Roxas momentarily thought about that as the move's name before dismissing the idea. He still liked 'Ice storm' more. He realized that she had heard him "Wait you were listening?"

"Oh no. I just happened to be able to hear your conversation as we collided." she said with with the same cheery smile.

"Oh um. Okay." She appeared to be staring at him with an expression of contentment, standing just a little too close "Well, it was nice to meet you." Roxas said feeling that there was something off about this girl.

He turned to walk past her but she said "It is nice to meet you as well. My name is Penny. What is your name?"

"Oh um." Roxas responded trying to find an exit to this conversation "My name is Roxas."

"I really like that name!" exclaimed Penny far more friendly than Roxas was used to "It is very nice to meet new people."

"Yeah... it's how you make new friends."

She appeared to grow excited at his statement, widening her eyes and tightening her lips together in a serious expression "That is true! Does that mean that you and I can be friends?"

"Uhhhh..." Roxas was struggling to find his response. He didn't want to turn her down, but also didn't want to tell her yes. He didn't want too many friends right now "Sure, maybe we could become friends uh, later."

"Awesome!" she exclaimed "We will have so much fun as friends!

"Sure... welp, catch you later?" he said more as a question wondering if she would let him go.

"I must be going as well future friend! I am glad I was able to meet you!" She said with a cute salute.

"Right..." Roxas formed an awkward wave before turning and walking the other direction. He listened to her feet walking the other direction and waited until he could no longer hear her before breathing a sigh of relief "Boy that was weird," he said under his breath.

Roxas jumped as he heard a loud piercing shout of a woman saying "YOU STOP RIGHT THERE!" he froze in place before slowly turning around, just as he did however he caught sight of a blur shoot past him and just behind him a figure in white darting after. It was a girl and he couldn't help but find her vaguely familiar as she too raced past him. He spun around to watch and saw the first figure change direction as they ran right into an alley way, Roxas knew that the alley way they had chosen was a dead end, he concluded that they must not have known the town very well.

Curiosity overwhelmed him as he jogged over to the turning point, looking down the alley interested in just what was going on.

He found that the first figure had been a guy who dressed... rather peculiarly. He wore a white flannel that opened in the front to reveal his bare chest, his arms clad in unique red battle gloves with the fingers cut off. His jeans were light blue and appeared to be rolled up to his caffs and his sneakers were yellow with black laces; lastly, Roxas noticed something waving back and forth behind his legs that the young nobody couldn't seem to quite make out.

"Lady I don't know who you are but you seriously need to leave me alone."

"You were running from the authorities! There is no reason for you to be doing that unless you've done wrong! Now start talking!"

The lady in question was dressed in a striking white dress that Roxas knew he had seen before, he hair was also a distinct white color parted so that a ponytail ran on the left side of her head.

"Weiss?" Roxas uttered without even realizing it.

The girl whipped her head around, looking to Roxas with confusion "Who said my-?"

Just as she turned to looked at him the their eyes locked. Roxas watched as her expression shifted from startled to confused and then finally realization as she began to recognize him.

"You!" She said with the tone of someone accusing another of a dirty deed.

Roxas suddenly regretted taking an interest in this situation as she shot him daggers with her eyes, not unlike the last time they had seen each other. The boy behind her appeared to take notice of her distraction as his eyes darted back and forth between the two brick walls. With an impressive leap he propelled himself up and against the side of one of the brick walls before kicking off and repeating the motion on the other wall.

He had made his way half way up before Roxas shouted "Look!" and pointed his finger.

Weiss whipped her head back around just as the boy had been scrambling up onto the rooftop of the building adjacent "NO!" she shouted in dismay as he darted out of view.

She stayed still for several seconds. Seemingly frozen in place as her eyes wouldn't leave the place where the man with the blond hair had just been. Roxas tried to use this unusually quiet moment as a chance to slip away by slowly tip toeing down the sidewalk before hearing her shout "DON'T YOU TAKE ANOTHER STEP!"

Roxas froze in place, appearing very nervous as the girl in white spun around and began stomping over to him. With a lightning fast motion she brought the tip of her Rapier to the nobody's throat who raised his hands in surrender, pulling his head back as he did so "You let him escape! What is wrong with you!?"

"I- um... I didn't mean to." he stuttered hoping she didn't plan to skewer him.

"That doesn't matter! It still happened! He was my big lead and YOU let him go!" her light blue eyes glared at him with such an intensity that Roxas speculated whether or not she was going to turn him to ice with the gaze.

"I'm Sorry," was all Roxas could think of to say.

"I don't want you're sorry! I want my perp!" she said with malice "And why are you here anyway? Isn't it a school day you thief?"

"I- um... wait thief? How am I a thief" Roxas questioned wondering just what he had done to be a thief.

"You stole MY spot from MY team and now you've stolen away MY chance at catching MY lead! You don't know how big this was for me! andYou know that I was supposed to be with Pyrrha and the rest of my team. It would have been perfect!"

"Oh...I already said sorry about your... 'perp'... you really feel that way?" Roxas asked confused by her logic.

"You mean about Beacon?" she asked still angry. He nodded.

"It's not a feeling! It's the absolute truth, ask anybody who sees both sides and they will tell you the same!"

"Oh... well I'm sorry then, you know that I never meant to be a... thief as you put it."

The anger in the young woman seemed to subside as she peered at the young nobody's remorseful expression. With a sigh she said "I know that it wasn't your fault, you probably didn't even know you were taking my place... but that doesn't mean I am not angry about it!" her temper suddenly rising once more.

"Well, if it makes it any better, you can have your spot back at Beacon. You could probably substitute for my spot on team PRJR... although it would probably have to go through a name change..."

"Wait what?" she said shocked "What do you mean, 'I can have my spot back'? Are you not attending Beacon academy anymore?"

He shook his head "Nope. It's all yours."

She stared at him long and hard, her eye brows furrowing as she asked "You do realize that Beacon is a prestigious school and many students would die to be able to attend there, yet you just up and decided that you didn't want to go anymore?"

"Well, you did it." he said in a quiet response.

Weiss huffed in response "Yes but for me it's different. My family owns the largest Dust industry in the world, so a girl like me has options. Not only that, but I had my reasons for leaving; it only took a couple of days for me to be disrespected by the very head of school by dismissing me when I was meant to be placed on an appropriate team, although you know all about that."Roxas looked down from the deep glare she was giving him " I knew that if I were to stay there other instances like that one would have arose compromising the standard for how I carry myself, and I couldn't allow that to happen."

Roxas could tell that she was looking for a response to her explanation, something that told her that he agreed with her. It seemed to Roxas that she liked having people think she was right.

"Well that makes sense I guess." he spoke quietly.

"So finally, I have to ask one thing. Seeing as we are both technically drop outs of Beacon academy and I've already told you my reasons, I only see it fit that you tell me just why you chose to leave after so far into the semester." Weiss's harsh gaze had lessened, she now stared at him with an expression of interest.

Roxas took a moment to respond, like most cases when someone would ask him a question that held some relation to the time he had spent with Organization XIII he had to weigh out whether telling the truth was a good idea.

Weiss seemed to notice his pause and said with a commanding authority "Just tell me Roxas, that is your name right?"

He nodded, slightly surprised she had remembered his name after all this time. He realized that he had remembered her name as well.

"I don't judge people Roxas-"

"Wait what about the whole 'thief' thing?"

"Okay fine." she said rolling her eyes before looking back to Roxas "I judge people _sometimes_ , but not very often and I promise not to judge you this time. I'm just curious is all."

Roxas nodded, asking himself if he could really trust this girl with any information. He concluded that it probably didn't matter whether he answered her question truthfully or not. It wasn't like she was a team member or even a friend, he suspected that he would probably never even see the snow white head of her's ever again.

"The truth is that I am currently being hunted down by a dangerous group of people. One of them found me at the school, and I'm certain they would hurt the students of Beacon trying to get to me. So I left."

"Oh... wow." she said in surprise "Are you being serious right now?"

He nodded "You wanted the truth didn't you?"

"Yeah but... I guess I didn't expect something as dire as that answer. I think I was just kinda hoping that you dropped out because you weren't good at fighting or the work was too hard or better yet you were scared off by a Grimm. You know, something that tells me that I should have gone instead of you."

He nodded, understanding now that she was still sour about the 'thief incident'.

"Sorry to disappoint." he said, deciding that this conversation had gone on long enough "Well I should go. I'm sure a girl like you is very busy running your family's... Dust company or something."

He turned to leave but found a hand on his should "Where do you think you're going?"

 _Anywhere but here?_ He thought before responding with "Oh you know... ummm... just places..."

"You have to help me catch my perp." she said coldly, turning him back around to face her.

"What? No I don't." Roxas said drawing his head back.

"Yeah huh! This is the second time that you impeded my progress, I am not going to let you get away with it again." she said with a huff, "I need a second set of eyes looking if I am going to find anything. This town is huge so as much as I hate to admit it I will probably need others to help me find the guy you let go. Plus,you are a student from Beacon, I know that means that you at least have some talent as a hunter. Better you than some random person with no skill in a fight, sure they would be able to spot him but without being able to restrain him it would be pointless." raising her Rapier again as she said"And also if you don't help then I will make sure that my revenge is painful and sweet."

Roxas sighed feeling annoyed and slightly tired of bickering. He didn't want to help her in the slightest, but he did think it would be somewhat shallow of him to leave when it was his fault that the blonde young man she was chasing got away.

Now that he thought about it, that in itself raised another question "Why are you chasing him?"

Weiss smiled, clearing assuming that she had succeeded in recruiting him as she said "Lets get some coffee, we can talk this over then."

* * *

Roxas had made note of the fact that he had never before been to a coffee shop as he sat down in the comfortable wooden chair. Their table resided just outside and underneath the canopy attached to the side of the brick structure. Roxas stared quietly as Weiss sat down across from him and two mugs were set down in front of them by the waiter. Roxas stared at down at the contents of the mug and furrowed his brow as he inspected the steaming black liquid. He didn't particularly enjoy the smile either.

"Now to tell you about my investigation." Weiss said as her hands reached over and took the sugar and cream. Roxas watched puzzled as she began to add very precise amounts of both ingredients before swirling the drink with a small spoon provided on a napkin.

She continued to speak "As I told you before my family currently owns the largest Dust manufacturing and distribution company in the world right now, meaning that by extension it is my task to help watch over and assure that things are running smoothly, given it will one day be my inheritance."

Roxas was barely listening as he watched the young woman's drink turn from black to a light mocha brown. His eyes trailed the movement of the mug as she lifted it to her lips and she took a small sip, smiling as she swallowed.

Roxas quickly turned his head down to his drink as she continued talking "Well as of late shipments of Dust along with distributors of our product have been going missing and reported stolen. This has been losing my father and the company noticeable revenue along with a lot of business as some of the people who usually sell our dust have terminated their contracts with us. They've stopped selling Dust entirely for fear that their shops will be robbed and looted."

Roxas took the mug into his hands and took a small sip of the black substance, immediately regretting doing so as his tongue was coated with a bitter taste.

"Now it's not been officially determined by the police but government officials have suspected that these acts of theft have been from movements of the White Fang."

This piqued Roxas's interest as he suddenly stopped trying to pour the right ratio's of milk and sugar into what he considered a vulgar drink "The White Fang?"

The girl dressing in white nodded, crossing her legs and leaning forward "You are familiar with them?"

"Well I've read about them." Roxas thought back to his readings of the history book he had picked up before. It made mention of the White Fang as a progressive group fighting for the rightful treatment of Faunas kind, why would they be stealing Dust?

"Are you sure it would be them? I read that they are a peaceful group. Why would they do that?" Roxas asked finally giving up on making his drink any good.

"Peaceful? Hardly." Weiss scoffed before taking a sip of her Coffee. Roxas very much wanted to taste her drink to understand why she seemed to enjoy it so much "The White Fang are a bunch of no good criminals who should be arrested for all that they've done. Maybe you read something outdated, because I promise you that the 'peaceful' White Fang that you are thinking of no longer exists."

"Oh." Roxas responded looking down.  
"Either way," she continued "That leads to why I was chasing that boy you had seen earlier. Just a few blocks away there had been another robbery for specifically Dust products, and while the authorities were investigating that, I saw that boy sprint past from that direction."

Roxas furrowed his brows "Wait, that doesn't mean he did it. Was he carrying a bag or something?" he said thinking back, he didn't remember the blonde carrying any sort of pack that would enable him to carry Dust let alone anything stolen.

"No but get this." She said leaning in close, clearly enjoying discussing her investigation "I noticed that when he was running past he had a tail! Meaning he's a Faunas, just like every member of the White Fang. I think those two facts alone are enough to investigate such a person. Plus if he could have very easily stashed the stolen goods somewhere near by in order to get away safely. We'll have to look around there to know for certain."

Roxas thought about it. He felt that perhaps she was labeling this person as a part of the White Fang simply due to his Faunas heritage, although the nobody had to admit that the fact that the guy was running away from the scene of the crime was pretty incriminating.

"Not only that, but when I gave chase and told him to stop, he only ran faster, clearly he was trying to get away with whatever he had done."

"Okay, so you want us to catch that guy and return what he stole to the shop?"

"No." she said smiling "If he really is with the White Fang like I suspect, I think we could have him lead us to their headquarters."

Roxas widened his eyes as he began to understand what she was planning, she continued "I think it would be possible to bring down the White Fang's headquarters entirely."

* * *

 _ **AN:**_ _My apologizes for just how long this chapter took to get out. In my defense I would have had it done last week however due to short comings from my co-workers it left the team with a stupendous work load that mean we all had to perform 12 hour shifts every day of the last week. I had absolutely no creative juices running through me as one night left me with only a single hour of sleep before starting my next 12 hour shift. I suppose the coffee scene in this chapter is a result of me forcing myself to drink copious amounts of coffee (even though I hate the brown and black substance) just to keep my head from drooping too much. Either way I hope you all enjoyed and I pray that I will be able to move forward with the next chapter sooner rather than later. As always Reviews and all of your support is very much appreciated and fuels me to continue writing what apparently is a pretty decent story thus far._


	9. Chapter 9: The White Fang

Roxas didn't know exactly what the young woman in front of him had meant when she'd said what she said.

 _Take the headquarters down? What in the world does that mean?_

Roxas realized his expression of confusion must have been clearly written on his face as she breathed a sigh of annoyance before continuing to speak "Clearly you're lost. Look, I'm obviously not so foolish to think that just you and I alone would be able to take down the entirety of the white Fang ourselves. Not only that but I know that there's no way that we could completely severe the head of such a massive snake, there are several heads, and in all of the kingdoms no less. But, at the very least we could manage to find the location of where the one in Vale might be. Report it to the trained huntresses and hunters of the world, and forever be credited as the huntress who rid Vale of the White Fang." Roxas noticed that as she said this a smile spread from her lips and her eyes glazed over looking up towards what Roxas assumed was her vision of how it would be when they succeeded in their task.

"Well… okay." Roxas responded awkwardly, beginning to adjust himself on the chair finding it very uncomfortable all of the sudden.

His thoughts drifted towards what would come next as they both fell into an awkward silence "So," he said interrupting the silence "What do we do now?"

She took a quiet sip of her coffee before responding "Good question. We find our monkey boy."

Roxas perked up at this suggestion "Oh okay, so we'll split up to cover more ground as we look right?" He didn't want to have to deal with this attitude for much longer.

"Oh no you don't. I bet the second I let you out of my sight you'll just take off and leave me to handle this case all by myself again. We stay together."

Roxas hadn't really thought of sneaking away, although he admitted now that he gave it some thought it was a good plan. He didn't feel particularly invested in this adventure and was more or less just humoring her since he did see himself as somewhat responsible for her departure from the academy. Although, he had to admit this was a nice change of pace in comparison to the non stop Grimm hunting he had been doing before.

Before he had a chance to respond to her accusation she abruptly rose from her seat, pushing it back with a screech in the process "Alright I'm finished, Let's go. I have some ideas on where we could find our crook."

* * *

The sun sat high in the sky beaming down on them as Weiss led the way with Roxas trailing a few feet behind her. They said nothing to each other as their feet clicked against the stone sidewalk, giving Roxas time to think about his situation.

The first thought to come to mind as he accompanied this girl clad in white was whether or not he should even be around her, let alone be around anyone at all. He knew that Organization XIII was still out there, looking for him, and it was only a matter of time until they found him again. When that happened he didn't want others to be in the way of the ensuing battle, he didn't want anyone else hurt.

He especially didn't want the guilt of another person's life on his hands.

His mind drifted to his last moments with Xion as his gaze fell, only watching his feet alternate in taking steps forward. Not paying attention to where he was walking, he suddenly collided with the girl in front of him.

He heard an annoyed and startled "Hey! watch where you're- whoa!" as he snapped to his senses he saw that he had ran into Weiss who'd begun to tip forward. With a quick motion Roxas reached out and caught the girl with his hand by her waist, pulling her back onto her feet and to his side. The two stood awkwardly close to each other for several seconds as Weiss blinked away her surprise.

Turning to Roxas she slugged him lightly on the arm with a commanding "Watch where you're going!"

"Sorry." was all he muttered as she took a step away from him.

She motioned to the building on their left, it had the appearance of a small brick shop, sharing walls with two other stores on either side of it. Roxas noticed that the large glass window that allowed customers to peer inside the shop had been shattered, and yellow quarantine tape was being used to create a vicinity around the scattered bits of broken glass covering the ground.

"This is the shop that was robbed today. I was passing by when I saw monkey boy dart past me with the cops on his tail."

Roxas peering in closer and saw that while the shop had several shoulder height shelves in orderly rows aside each other, not a one had anything on it

"Looks like this place got completely cleaned out." Roxas stated staring at the two officers seemingly looking for clues within the shop.

"Well obviously." Weiss responded with a roll of her eyes.

Roxas saw an older man standing just outside of the yellow tape also watching the two officers work. He had gray hair and an annoyed, angry expression. From the man's khaki pants and shopkeeper's apron, Roxas made the assumption that this was the owner.

"You said that you saw the blonde guy run from this direction right?" Roxas retorted.

"Yeah, but I didn't see him carrying any bag that he would have been able to carry the dust with, so what we should do is search the radius of the area and see if we can find where he stashed it before he returns, then we-"

"Or," Roxas interrupted, "We ask the owner of the place what the person looked like who robbed him."

"Why?" she shot him a look of skepticism "We already know who we're after, why do we need a description?"

"I dunno," Roxas shrugged, approaching the man "Just to make sure?"

Weiss released and annoyed sigh, crossing her arms as she did so "Fine, I suppose it is good to be sure. Go ahead, ask him."

Roxas lightly tapped the man on the shoulder and asked "Um, excuse me, but are you the owner of this place?"

The man turned his displeased gaze towards Roxas before responding coldly "If it's not obvious we're closed. I can't help you when all of my goods have been stolen."

Roxas recoiled from the rude response as the man turned back towards his shop, proceeding to ignore the young nobody.

"Well um," Roxas continued " Would you mind telling me what the guy looked like who robbed your store?"

The man sneered before sharply retorting "I've already gone over this with the authorities. I don't feel like going over it all again to a couple of kids."

"Oh, okay." Not intent on giving up just yet Roxas said "I just need a really short description of the guy if you wouldn't mind."

"Well I do mind." the man said annoyed, clearly ticked off "This isn't your business kiddo, get lost."

Roxas's shoulders slumped as he began to turn around but felt a slender hand rest on his shoulder, halting him "Um excuse me," Spoke Weiss standing next to Roxas

"Didn't you hear what I told your boyfriend? Get lost alright? I'm in a bad mood after getting my shop raided." he grumbled.

Only momentarily taken back from the man's words Weiss was quick to respond "Now you listen here, this is not my 'boyfriend' this is my associate as we are currently undergoing a private investigation on this matter. I am Weiss Schnee, heir to the Schnee Dust company, the same company that supplies your very store."

Roxas watched as the man's expression quickly shifted from angry to surprised as he turned his body to face the two with wide eyes.

Weiss continued "Now as this has been a theft of Schnee company products it then falls on us to investigate just what happened to our goods. So if you want compensation from my company as well as further business with the largest Dust company in existence I suggest you answer my friend- er- associate's questions. I assure you that honest answers will be both beneficial to our investigation as well as your store's swift recovery."

The man quickly nodded as he addressed the young woman with a now polite tone "I'm sorry, I didn't know." turning to Roxas he asked "I'm sorry about that sir, You were asking for a description of who robbed me, right?"

Roxas, equally surprised by the shift in attitude only nodded as a response.

"Well there were about four in total, two guys and two girls as far as I could tell. They were all wearing the same get up with these white vests and black pants. They had black hoods on and while masks that covered the top half of their faces which made it sorta impossible to distinguish them."

"Wait," Weiss interrupted "None of them looked like a sandy haired guy with an open white shit and some jeans?"

The man shook his head "No none of them, They were all wearing the same White Fang uniform from what I could tell. One of them did have some white horns though, another had scaly reptilian skin. I'm pretty sure they were all Faunus as far as I could tell."

"Oh." Weiss looked down with furrowed brows, she turned to Roxas and with a somber tone said "I guess I was wrong."

Roxas nodded as he address the man again, feeling a sense of deja vu as he pried for clues. It reminded him of the time he would go on a reconnaissance mission for the Organization and he would have to ask himself critical questions to answer with the environment around him. He had to admit, this way felt a whole lot easier, just being able to ask a person directly.

"So did they say why they were taking the Dust?" it had been a question Roxas had been asking himself for awhile. If it was true what Weiss had said about the White Fang stealing from shops across the nation for Dust specifically, Roxas was curious to know just what it was for.

"No they didn't. They did seem like they were in a rush to get somewhere though, like they wanted to get this done fast and not just for the reason of not getting caught."

Roxas wasn't really sure what to do with this information but decided to store it away anyway, maybe it would be important later.

Weiss voiced her question next "Did you see what direction they headed after they got what they wanted? Did they have a vehicle?"

The man nodded before pointing down the road at where they must have fled. He described the vehicle as a truck which caused an immediate frown to form from Weiss's lips.

The duo thanked the man and departed, heading in the direction the man pointed to as they did.

"Well this was a wash." Weiss grumbled in a sad tone.

"What do you mean? We just found out that the blond guy didn't do it, isn't that a step in the right direction?"

"Yeah but that doesn't leave us much to go off of now. The only way I thought that we might have something was if monkey boy stashed the stolen Dust somewhere and we find it before him. Now that I know that it was some guys in a truck, there's probably no way of telling where they went or where they've gone." She kicked a pebble in the way to the side of the street.

"Face it, trail has gone cold." she grumbled.

"Oh," Roxas said understandingly "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault Roxas. It's a good thing you asked that guy back there, otherwise we might have been on a wild goose chase throughout the city… although, that does leave me wondering just why monkey boy was running like he was…"

Weiss stopped and Roxas followed suit. The two stood in the middle of a mostly empty road with no bystanders as Weiss became rigid. Roxas turned to her and saw her eyes wide and trained on something ahead of them, turning to view just what she was seeing Roxas spotted a young man with bright blue hair and distinct yellow goggles walking alongside…

"Monkey boy…" Weiss suddenly whispered under her breath.

Roxas noticed that the duo appeared oblivious to he and Weiss as they walked along a road perpendicular to theirs. The two were laughing as they talked, clearly engrossed in an interesting topic.

"Well what are the odds?" Weiss laughed as he frame suddenly eased to normality "Think we should pay our little friend a visit?"

"Why? We know he didn't do it." Roxas retorted.

"Yeah but I want to find out why he was running in the first place. C'mon, let's go."The two picked up their pace as quickly found footing tailing behind the two boys.

The guys didn't seem to notice them until Weiss walked up and lightly tapped on the blond's shoulder.

"Yeah so then I told him- huh?" turning to look his eyes grew big "Oh come on! Are you being serious right now?" he complained recognizing the young woman.

He took several steps cautious steps away from Weiss as he said "Look I didn't do it okay? I didn't steal the Dust or whatever, so stop chasing me!"

"I know." Weiss nodded "We know you're not the one responsible for the thefts now, I'm sorry about accusing you of such a deed."

"Oh?" the Faunas said in surprise "What is it that you want then? I didn't do it, so don't be harassing me anymore."

"I want to know why you were running in the first place, I mean, it did look suspicious with you sprinting away from the scene of the crime." she said crossing her arms over her chest.

"Wait what? I don't even know… wait, is this shop near the docks by chance?"

Thinking back, Roxas did recall the harbor being just down the road from where the shop had been broken into. He nodded in response.

"Well That's an awful big coincidence." he said with a sigh "Look, I was running because I may or may not have hitched a ride with a boat that didn't know I was on board."

"So you were a stowaway?" Weiss stated accusingly.

"Yeah yeah whatever. It's not like you can prove it or anything. So yeah I was running because of that. I had nothing to do with a robbery, so leave me alone."

"Hmpf! Fine!" Weiss said annoyed and spun around turning to Roxas "C'mon, let's go."

"Wait Wait Wait!" The boy with the blue hair suddenly interjected. Now that Roxas was closer he he noticed the teenager's dark red jacket with sleeves pulled up to his forearms. His hands were clad in black fingerless gloves and he wore dark Jeans with black pads covering the outside of his thighs.

He took a step towards Weiss and said in a calmer, more controlled fashion "I don't believe you and I have been properly acquainted miss."

"Oh, um." she responded slightly taken back as he approached " I'm Weiss."

"Well Weiss, my name is Neptune" he said smiling "and it is my pleasure to meet you."Roxas took note of the young woman's face growing a light shade of pink as he smiled.

"Oh come on, really dude?" was the blond haired boy's response.

"What?" Neptune responded innocently "I think it only right to be properly introduce to such a fair young lady."

"Ugh, this isn't going to be a thing now is it? You do realize that this was the crazy lady I told you about chasing me down the moment I got here right?"

"Well you forgot to mention just how pretty she was in your story." Neptune said locking eyes with Weiss. Roxas noticed the light pink in her cheeks turn into a distinct red.

"Welp I guess this is going to be a thing now ~sigh~" The Faunas said approaching Roxas with an outstretched hand "My name is Sun, Sun Wukong, and you are?"

"Roxas." the nobody said shaking his hand. Sun's smile appeared friendly and sincere as their hands shook.

"I don't remember seeing you when she chased me down, what, did she drag you into this sometime later?"

"Just after actually." Roxas grinned.

Weiss voiced a singular 'Hey!' before Sun continued "Well What is it that you two have been chasing me down for? It should be obvious that I didn't have any of the stolen stuff on me."

"Well, if you must know," Weiss interjected "As of late the Schnee company has been suffering from several of our shipments of Dust being raided. It's been a rising suspicion that the White Fang has been behind these attacks and as if to confirm this suspicion my associate here just discovered that it was indeed members of the White Fang who were behind the most recent robbery."

"Oh wow," Sun responded with raised eyebrows "I always thought the White Fang were a bunch of no good crooks. Didn't know they had been robbing Dust shops though." His brows suddenly furrowed however as he said "Wait a minute… that doesn't explain why you were chasing me down."

"W-well," Weiss suddenly stammered, Roxas realized he had yet to see her nervous yet, and wondered why she was now "We first and foremost wanted to approach you with an apology considering we now know you had nothing to do with the robbery."

"Obviously." he nodded.

"And secondly, well…" she seemed to hesitate, pausing to find the right way to say her next comment "I had to consider the slight possibility that um… considering your Faunas heritage… you might be a part of the White Fang?"

Sun shot her a look of disgust "What, do you think that just because I'm a Faunas that means that I'm automatically a part of those goons? Despite what some people might say not every Faunas is a crook and thief. I am not a part of their crimes."

"Well I just had to eliminate that as a possibility." she said trying to appear formal.

"Whatever," he said crossing his arms and turning away.

There was a long silence as the two refused to make eye contact with each other, leaving Roxas and Neptune to stare at each other awkwardly.

Finally the silence was broken as Neptune clapped his hands together "Welp We should probably go then."

"Yeah we should, c'mon Neptune let's head out." Sun said coldly before turning away.

Neptune shot him a confused look "No I meant with her, we're ganna help her aren't we?"

Sun raised his voice slightly as he turned back to his friend "Why would we help her? She just accused me of being with the White Fang."

"I didn't mean anything by it," Weiss quickly inserted.

Both Neptune and Sun ignored her as their conversation continued with Neptune saying "C'mon man it's obvious that their in the middle of some sort of investigation. And any good detective knows that they need to eliminate every possibility to find the truth."

At the word 'detective' Sun's eyebrows raised "An investigation you say?" he turned to Roxas and asked "Are you two in the middle of an investigation? Like cops and stuff?"

"Yeah sorta, We're trying to catch the White Fang red handed... I think?" he turned to Weiss for confirmation who nodded her head in response.

"Well then, I think I could be of some assistance." Sun said with new interest in the conversation. He grinned as he said "So you said that the White Fang has been stealing large shipments of Dust right?"

"Right," Weiss said giving him a peculiar look "Wait a minute, what's got you so interested no all of a sudden?"

Neptune leaned over her should and quietly said "We have a small thing for detective work."

"Look I have potentially valuable information for you, do you want it or not?"

Weiss nodded quickly "Yes I do, sorry. What are you thinking?"

"Well," Sun said with his grin still plastered on his face "While I was on the ship here I overheard some people talking about a massive shipment of Dust coming in near the depot. I'm talking whole freights of the stuff. If I were the White Fang, I'd be after that for sure."

Weiss nodded at his statement "Hmmm,why do you say that? I mean they've already hit this area, you think they would be bold enough to hit it again?"

Sun shook his head "I just think that a usually unmonitored depot with a large, already prepackaged, ready to go, huge shipment of Dust would sound too good to pass up to me."Weiss shot him a suspicious glance "If I was a part of the White Fang, which I'm not!" he said defensively.

"That's still assuming that they would know that the shipment is coming in today." she said skeptical.

"Hey, I was just a stowaway, meaning I was just hiding and heard it in passing. I wasn't even searching for the location and got it. You think the White Fang, an organization actively searching for these hits, would miss that? Besides the crew are chatty and loud. You have no idea how many times I wanted to shout at them to shut up, I mean I probably know where half their cargo is going with how much they talked about it!"

Weiss pursed her lips and cupped her chin mulling over the suggestion. After a short time she dropped her hands and said "that's fair. Do you know what time the shipment would be coming in?"

He shook his head "Sorry, all I heard was that it was coming tonight."

Weiss sighed "So that means we don't know when the White Fang will be coming, if at all."

"It's a start though, right?" Roxas pitched in "It's not like we have any other leads."

"That's not tr-" Weiss said defensively before giving it some thought "Oh wow you're right. Huh."

"I think it's a good idea too." agreed Neptune.

"Well... that was certainly a valuable suggestion," Weiss said with a slight smile "If you will point us in the right direction we'll be on our way."

"I can just take you there," he said while making a gesture behind him "It's this way, let's go."

"Oh, so you **are** tagging along?" Weiss said in surprise.

"Haha obviously! Detectives Neptune and Sun are on the case!"

* * *

When the four arrived at the depot the sun had already begun to set. The group gawked at how large of a place the depot was, eying the freight containers stacked 4 rows up.

Sun made the obvious statement of "This place is huge!"

"Yeah, We need to figure out how to spot the White Fang with so much space for them to hide in, maybe we should split up." Weiss suggested.

"That makes sense, what will the groups be?" Neptune asked

"Well obviously you'll go with me, Roxas with Weiss. Here, let me see your scroll so I can message you if we spot anything, you do the same okay?" Sun said as he reached into his back pocket.

The two traded numbers as Neptune grumbled something about him wanting to switch partners, meanwhile Roxas took the time to take in his surroundings. He hadn't really explored this part of the town yet and was enjoying the general quietness of the place. He couldn't see anyone around and there were no vehicles to be heard either. Aside from the obvious containers, the place felt desolate and empty.

The group split up with Sun and Neptune heading to the opposite side of the Depot. Upon Roxas's suggestion he and Weiss found their way on top of an adjacent rooftop overlooking the majority of the Depot. They couldn't spot Sun or Neptune however, telling them that those two had found a spot overlooking a section out of view from their position.

The two made themselves comfy against the lip of the rooftop, laying flat on their stomachs as they waited.

After a few minutes Weiss was the one to break the silence "How long do you think it will take for someone to show up?"

"I don't know." was Roxas's response.

"The sun's going down, it'll be tough to spot anything down there when it's dark."

Roxas saw some street lamps placed along the divide between the stacks of freight containers, making a path way for vehicles.

"Those will probably help then." he said pointing out the lights.

Weiss peaked her head over and spotted them "Yeah I suppose so."

A silence instilled soon after, neither party doing anything but breath and stare at the emptiness that was the depot.

"Jeez are you ganna talk any time soon? You seem to hardly ever have anything to say, and it's getting really boring waiting up here." Weiss complained after 30 minutes of silence.

"Sorry... I just, don't really know what I should say." Roxas admitted. He had no problem with having a conversation with anybody, it was just at times he couldn't distinguish just what would be appropriate to talk about.

"Well anything will do to start a conversation, talk about hobbies or ask questions. Talk about something you found interesting or what you think will interest the other person."

"Like what?" he said, how should he know what Weiss is interested in?

The young woman released a low sigh before stating "Something that would normally engage a person, make them ask questions that are fun to answer, you know, that sort of thing."

"Oh okay, ummm..." Roxas took a short pause to come up with ideas before saying "So um, you're a huntress right? What made you want to do that?"

Weiss smiled "See? There you go, was that so hard now?"

He shook his head as a response.

"Well to answer your first question, no, I am technically not a huntress... yet," she said in a low tone.

"What do you mean? Why aren't you?"

"For the same reason you aren't obviously, I left Beacon just like you." she said as her eyes dropped "But I plan to change that." Roxas could see a look of determination spread across her facial features.

"You're going back to Beacon?"

She shook her head "No, I don't think so. I want to prove that I don't need Beacon to be a great Huntress."

"Huh," Roxas responded, taking a few seconds to come up with a follow up question "So... how do you plan to do that?"

"Honestly?" she said looking over at him with a vulnerable expression. She appeared scared, timid even as her usual confidence and proper demeanor washed away to be replaced by what could only be called uncertainty. Roxas hadn't seen her make an expression like this one, it was a polar opposite to how she had been carrying herself for the entire day and it left him with wide eyes.

"This is it, this is my shot to prove myself."

"This...? What do you mean?" Roxas asked confused.

She sighed, but not in the annoyed fashion that he had come to expect, but rather it sounded like an expression of exhaustion, as if she was metaphorically letting go of something before she spoke "There isn't... really an investigation going on on part of the Schnee Dust Company. That's just something I made up."

"Okay...?"

"What this really is, is a last ditch effort to prove to my family that I am capable, that I can be a Huntress. The moment I got home Winter demanded that I return immediately, that I wasn't cut out to learn how to be a Huntress on my own."

"Who's Winter?" replied Roxas.

"Oh sorry, she's my sister. She went and spoke to my father who was immediately convinced. He told me that I had two options, either return to Beacon to become a properly trained Huntress, or focus my efforts on becoming the heir to the Schnee Dust company and stop pursuing my 'silly dream'."

"... so what did you say?" Roxas spoke softly as her tone had become quite silent.

"I overheard him discussing with one of our largest consumers of our Dust products, "Vale Valuables" just a day or two before my sister got to him. They had been talking about a recent shipment that had gone missing for the third time, so when my father gave me my ultimatum I thought up this idea on the spot. I told him that I would prove to him that I can be a capable Huntress and help the company at the same time, that I would put a stop to the Dust thefts."

"And that worked?"

"Yeah, well, sorta." she said staring out into the night. The sun had finally set, shrouding the two in darkness. Thankfully the street lamps surrounding the compound had turned on, giving the duo a decent view of the events down below, as uneventful as they may be.

"He agreed to my deal after a little bit of pestering, although I kinda think that he was just humoring me at that point. My sister thought the idea was ridiculous too, she told me that I had no idea what I was getting into... and in all honesty?" she turned to look over at Roxas "She was right."

"What do you mean?"

"I was given three weeks to try and make any progress hunting down these thieves. After that time I was told that I would have to make my decision on what I really wanted to do with my life." her frown deepened "This is week three, and honestly? This is the closest I've gotten so far..."

"Oh," Roxas didn't know how to respond, he could tell that the young woman in front of him was clearly bothered by the matter, but didn't know what to say to comfort her "So... what have you done?" he thought it best that she keep talking instead.

"Well When I first started I had believed that these thefts had been caused by a single thief, or maybe a small group. I thought the robberies had been orchestrated by some random no name criminals; an easy way to prove myself a Huntress. When I found out just who was really behind these crimes... well I was more than overwhelmed. I almost stopped trying entirely, I basically thought I had absolutely no chance of stopping a group like the White Fang."

"So... what changed? What made you keep going?"

She laughed "I said _almost_ stopped trying, that doesn't mean I didn't give it my all. The first week I spent researching their hits, trying to find a pattern to what they took and where they seemed to take it from." she sighed a sad sigh "Unfortunately that only revealed that their patterns were sporadic, no Dust business is too small or too big for them to rob, meaning I couldn't just cling to one dust distribution outlet and wait for them to bite. They've been biting them all it seems."

"Wow, that must be a lot." Roxas didn't know just how many chains there were, but he imagined with just how valuable and essential a product Dust was that there had to be many.

"Yeah I know right?" she said "It makes me wonder just what they need so much Dust for."

"...seems dangerous to me." Roxas spoke sternly.

"I think so too. It can't be for anything good. But that's why we need to put a stop to this." she said with determination.

"So what else did you find out?" Roxas asked with a new found interest.

"Admittedly, not too much more." she said with a frown "It's common knowledge at this point that members of the White Fang have been behind the Dust thefts. The only problem with that is that the authorities are already busy dealing with all the other criminal acts White Fang members have committed in the name of equality. They can't focus all their efforts towards these usual trivial crimes."

"Trivial?" he asked. He still couldn't properly say he understood the full extent of how crimes were prosecuted in this world, but he usually considered flat out robbery to be rather high on the crime list.

"Well, usually is the key word." she admitted "Most of the thefts have been small shops, so in comparison to the deaths and destruction they've been responsible for, theft seems small. This however, is a much bigger hit; assuming that they come at all."

"So, does that mean that people will take it more seriously?" he asked trying to connect the pieces.

"Exactly! If we stop them here, catch them red handed, then it will bring attention to this problem that desperately needs to be resolved." she shrugged "Or at least, I think-"

"Shhh! Get down!" Roxas suddenly interrupted, shoving her head low to the ground as he peered over the side.

"Hey!" Weiss protested just as Roxas's hand covered her mouth, silencing her. With his other hand he pointed down below. Her eye's followed and immediately enlarged as they locked onto what Roxas had seen. Down below it appeared as if a aircraft had just touched down on the far side of the depot. The bay door opened slowly, touching down and creating a ramp for several figures to flood out of the craft.

Roxas studied them silently, from what he could see, they matched the description the shopkeeper had given them perfectly. Dark black pants and hoodies, a white vest and mask that only covered the top half of their faces, this was them for certain.

"Oh wow," Weiss quietly whispered "This actually worked, I didn't really think that they would come. What do we- Roxas?"

Roxas had risen to his feet and currently stood at the edge of the platform, staring fiercely at the people down below. His hood was up, partially covering his face and creating a dark camouflage using the night's darkness.

"I doubt they'll go peacefully, we need to move fast before they start loading up. You want to be a Huntress right?" he asked without taking his eyes off them.

Weiss stared at him shocked for a few seconds before nodding and saying "Y-yes I do!"

"Well then that means we have to stop them now. Are you ready?"

She swallowed, seemingly nervous before smiling and nodding "Yes, Yes I am, let's do this."

"Good,"

With that the young nobody stepped out into the darkness and let gravity take him down.

 _ **Author's Note:**_ _This Chapter was somewhat difficult for me mostly due to the heavy dialog. I'm not a very dialog driven writer and tend to flourish when describing a scene or when the characters have some sort of action to move alongside the conversation. This is why you all will probably notice my tendency to describe an expression or small movement a character is making to better describe their attitude towards the situation. I also struggled to maintain Roxas's character dialog due to him being mostly in one on one situations with Weiss. Fans of the RWBY franchise will know that early on Weiss was a more difficult character to get along with, hence her title as the ice queen. I still envision Roxas as a mostly quiet character, so having him have a longer conversation with a character he just barely met feels... off..._

 _Either way, I'll leave that up to my reviewers as to how Roxas was portrayed in this chapter, and if he felt in character or out of it._

 _I hope it wasn't too long a wait, I had the time to write I was just mostly lacking the motivation I suppose. Again it was heavy dialog so I struggled to keep the ball rolling, some of you may have noticed that (Or maybe I'm just imagining that lol)._

 _Either way I hope that the next chapter is a tad bit more exciting to write given it will be the shipyard scene. That way I'll be able to finish it in record time!_

 _All reviews will be responded to via PM!_


	10. Chapter 10: The Confrontation

His feet touched the ground with a quiet slap of rubber soles hitting concrete. Dropping into a crouching position, he hid behind a nearby freight container as he listened to the sound of Weiss's hard boots hitting the ground beside him. She swiftly joined him behind the container, peeking her head out as she did so.

"What should we do?" she asked staring daggers into the many hooded figures all wearing identical white masks.

"Maybe message Sun and Neptune, tell them what's happening if they don't know already."

"Got it." she said withdrawing behind the container further and pulling out her scroll as she did so. Roxas took her place and began watching the operation as they started. He took note of their weaponry, he'd say roughly a quarter of the group was armed with firearms while the remainder all opted for swords strapped to their waists.

One of the white fang members was hollering out orders, motioning with the barrel of his gun where the others should go when a shout sounded from back withing the carrier. Out stepped the first person Roxas had seen not wearing the White Fang uniform so far. He had distinct red hair that covered one of his green eyes, a black bowler hat that rested atop his head. The rest of his body was clad in dark black pants and formal shoes along with a white lined suit with a gray scarf that wrapped around his neck. The young nobody also noticed the man carrying a cane, which he thought strange considering it didn't appear as if he had a limp of any sort.

Roxas couldn't help but feel that this man belonged in the 1900's with his attire, but put the silly thought away almost immediately. The man was calling out to the rest of the group with irritation as he ordered them to speed it up, it looked like he was in charge to Roxas.

The young nobody felt that something was off about that man being here, studying him for several seconds before it hit him "Hey...Weiss?"

"I contacted Sun, they should be coming soon." she said ignoring his question as she put away her scroll.

"The White Fang is suppose to be a Faunas revolutionary group right? Standing for Faunas rights?"

"Well, They resemble a terrorist group more than that of a revolutionary group, but I suppose you could call them that," she nodded, moving closer to Roxas to peek over at what he had been seeing.

"Well... you don't think he looks like a Faunas, do you?" he said as she peeked out over the edge.

She stared the man with wide eyes before furrowing her brows after studying him for a short time, Roxas silently asked himself if he had made the same expression when he'd first seen him.

"Well he definitely looks human to me." she answered "But who knows? I've heard that some Faunas are able to pass themselves off as Human if they try."

"hmmm..." Roxas silently thought about that comment. He had read in the first day of Beacon about the treatment Faunas had been subjected to in the past, and he immediately understood why those who would be able to pass as human would do so. They wanted to be treated the same as everyone else, they wanted to be the same, no different from their peers and friends.

Roxas understood that concept all too well.

"For some reason I can't help but feel that man's face is familiar..." Weiss murmured under her breath as she stared on, after a few quiet moments she said "I do know that face! He appeared on the News in relation to several recent criminal activities. He is a very well known criminal... now if only I could remember his name..."after holding her chin in her fingers she sighed, giving up on recalling the name "Well regardless, We need to act Roxas," she said pulling him out of his thoughts "I don't think we'll be able to engage them all at once..."

"I don't know about that..." Roxas admitted, looking over at the troops, Roxas didn't find any of them particularly impressive. They didn't carry themselves like people who've been properly trained like most of the kids at Beacon. In fact they moved more like ordinary people, stumbling over their own footing and responding in disorderly fashions. The more he thought about it the more it made sense that they wouldn't be well trained in combat, if anything military at all. He realized that they weren't a well equipped army with the people's money to fund them and their exploits. They were a revolutionary group, their members willingly volunteering with only the skills that they have in their normal day to day lives. Roxas realized then that's was why their weapons were inconsistent, they couldn't afford every troop to have the same weaponry.

Upon this realization Roxas was almost impressed with all that the group had supposedly done, sure it was a bad reputation, but impressive none the less.

"You can't honestly believe that we can take on all of those guys at once do you?"

Roxas was snapped out of his thoughts for a second time before turning to her and pausing as he thought up his response "Well... if each of them are no stronger than an Ursa, then I'm pretty sure I can handle them."

"Haha funny- wait are you serious?" looking into Roxas's serious gaze, she did a double take, looking out to the numerous members of the White Fang surrounding one of the freight containers and then back to Roxas " You can take on that many Ursa?"

He grinned "And more." he said as the Oath Keeper was summoned to his hand.

"Whoa" she said jumping back from the flash of light "How...?" she stared at the peculiar weapon with astonishment "Just how are you able to do that?"

"like this." he said as the Oblivion appeared in his other hand.

She again startled as the weapon appeared. she looked back and forth between the two weapons with the same confused reaction, finally, she asked and how many times are you able to do that?"

Roxas released a low chuckle before stepping out from the cover of the container with his hood still up, obscuring his face from view. He looked out and saw several of the White Fang turning their heads to look at him, confusion and slight bewilderment washing over their expressions.

The young nobody new that given what he was up against, he probably didn't actually need both Key blades for this fight, but he didn't want to leave anything to chance. Weiss needed this to work out, so he wanted to make sure that this fight went as smoothly as possible, and ended as soon as possible.

Roxas slowly began to walk towards them, dragging his two key blades against the ground behind him as he did so. His pace quickened, transforming his walk into a jog and then a sprint as he quickly closed the distance between he and them.

The man in the bowler hat turned towards Roxas and said "Now who is this guy?" he buried his face into the palm of his hand murmuring "Barely ten minutes in and already you animals have managed to mess it up. It's truly astonishing just how competent you all are."

Roxas ignored his comments and watched as the White Fang members armed with fire arms raised the barrels of their rifles in his direction, ordering him to stop as they did so. The young nobody ignore their demands as with a powerful swing he flung his Keyblade at one of the armed members. The rapidly spinning keyblade was nothing but a spherical white blur as it raced just above the ground and struck the masked figure in the chest, sending him clattering to the floor in moments.

Roxas was quick to summon the Oath keeper back to his hand as a barrage of bullets all began to fire. The nobody dashed side to side avoiding the fire, nothing but blur of darkness streaking across the depot as he made his way towards the other members of the White Fang. At times the sharp sounds of metal striking metal could be heard as a shot was lucking enough to actually make it to Roxas, who used his two keyblades to deflect the lead bullets threatening to pierce his body.

He finally managed to close the gap between he and one of the shooters, quickly striking the assault rifle out of the Faunas's hands and sending it flying into the air as he slashed with the Oblivion. His other arm was already moving in unison as the man in front of him looked up trying to find just where his weapon had gone. Roxas brought the Oathkeeper down on the goon, cracking a powerful blow on his head which resulted in his knees immediately buckling. Roxas watching his unconscious form hit the ground just before he darted towards the other gunmen, all too stunned to continue firing. He dispatched the group with little difficulty, behaving like a whirlwind of black and white as his keyblades struck down the white Fang one by one.

Finally having taken down each of the nearby members who'd been carrying fire arms, he turned to see the others, all with their dark black blades drawn and pointed towards him. Just behind them he saw the man with the bowler hat pointing the end of his cane towards him. Roxas thought this strange as it didn't appear as if the others of the White Fang needed his direction as to who to attack. Roxas didn't have time to analyze this small action however as he caught movement out of the corner of his eye from one of the several Faunas surrounding him. The Faunas dashed forward and attempted to carve their blade into his side with a charging yell. Roxas easily deflected the attack with a sideways swipe and chopped the hilt of his blade into the man's nose. The Faunas staggered back, dropping his weapon and clutching his face as the rest began to charge forward, raising their weapons above their heads as they did.

Roxas positioned himself in a ready stance, his eyes darting back and forth between the wave of enemy's with both Keyblades raised and ready. He was unprepared however when a bright orange light suddenly shot into his chest and exploded, sending him rocketing backward and off of his feet.

"Owww..." he grumbled as he slowly began to lift himself back up onto his elbows, rubbing the center of his chest as he did. Luckily he knew that there was no real damage sustained, but that certainly did hurt. He rose his head and shifted his gaze to the man in the bowler hat who was now laughing, clearly amused from Roxas's injury. The young nobody squinted his eyes and saw a thin tendril of smoke rising from the end of the man's cane.

He connected the dots as he now understood what had struck him.

"Okay then... I've gatta be careful of that now..." he murmured under his breath.

"Hey!" the young nobody suddenly heard from up above.

Looking up, Roxas could only barely make out the form of Sun dropping from the sky, he landed with two feet atop the head of the man with the bowler hat before immediately leaping off of him. From behind his back he pulled out a contraption that immediately formed into a long red staff which he whirled around his fingers with impressive expertise.

"What, fifty or so guys against one? How's that fair?" he asked eying the other Faunas around him.

"Doesn't sound very fair to me." Roxas heard Neptune's voice as the boy with the blue hair stepped forward from behind the nobody. Offering a hand, he pulled Roxas back to his feet.

Roxas saw Weiss step out from her spot before, seemingly more confident now that Neptune and Sun had arrived "Well then, shall we be the ones to even the score?" she asked with a proper tone, unsheathing her Rapier and adjusting her footing to that of a fencing one.

"Sounds good to me." said Sun with a confident grin. He began to spin his staff to the point that is could only be described as a red blur, creating the image of several staffs in his hand at once before whipping around and using the momentum of the spin to carry out a strike that collided with a one of the quickly approaching goons. The man stumbling back by the collision, which prompted the rest of the remaining members to begin their charge once again.

Roxas was surprised to watch the scene unfold around him. Neptune had pulled out a staff as well, however it resembled that of a Guandao more than Sun's simple pole. It made short work of the oncoming White Fang members as he stepped forward, twirling the weapon above his head before bringing it down with a force that slammed the first assailant to the ground. As he lifted his weapon from the downed foe he stuck it between the legs of a Faunas who had been running forward with an intent to drive a dagger into Neptune's chest. He yanked the Guandao to the side, sweeping the member of the White Fang off of his feet and to the ground.

Roxas was impressed as the fighting commenced. He watched as Weiss went into action, each movement a precise and perfect motion as if this exchange had been practiced before hand. With every strike her feet moved to compliment the action. She darted forward, striking out at a goon who clearly hadn't been ready for her attack from the way he was sent flying back from the blow. She moved quickly, stepping out of the way of a wild sword swing to her right before moving out of the way of a dagger to her left which had been aimed at her neck. She rose her Rapier above her head before driving it to the ground. Roxas widened his eyes as he watched an emblem begin to form on the ground beneath her, the symbols being a circular bright white that swirled as she did so. In only a moment, ice beams suddenly erupted all around her, sending the surrounding enemies flying into the sky and shouting in justified shock as to what had just happened.

Roxas could tell that this fight would be over quickly, there were hardly any more of the White Fang standing as the team swept them away with ease. The young nobody eyed the man in the bowler hat as he turned and attempted to re-board the vessel behind him. Roxas could tell that this man was the one behind all of this, or at the very least the leader of this specific operation. The door began to rise, shutting as the aircraft's engines started just after he boarded.

 _You're not getting away that easily..._

Roxas focused on a point just barely in view from the quickly closing gap between the door and ceiling of the aircraft and lifted his hand, summoning a corridor of darkness of which he immediately dived through.

He reappeared on the his hands and knees on the cold hard metal floor as the aircraft took off, sending him scattering to the floor.

Lifting his head he saw the man in the bowler hat display a truly shocked expression. The air craft was relatively small, longer than it was wide as Roxas could gauge it being only 10 feet by 20 feet and mostly empty aside from the rows of seats lining both sides of the walls. Roxas could see that just behind him was a wall with a single door of which he assumed led to the cockpit and to whoever was flying this vessel. The man with the bowler hat shook his head as he whispered under his breath "Man, they just keep getting weirder."

Roxas was quick to jump to his feet, but felt unstable on his footing as the plane was already in the air and moving. The man in the bowler hat rose from his seat against the wall, swinging his cane casually as he stared Roxas down.

"Are we really doing this here? You realize its proper etiquette to remain seated while the plane is taking off."

"Who are you and-"

"Who are _**you?**_ " the man cut him off , loud and irritated "Here we are doing a normal Dust run only to have some blonde in a hood and his little friends come and interfere. You're not wearing the uniform of a police officer, and you certainly aren't someone I've ever seen before. So tell me, who are you, and just why are you and your friends deciding to throw such a big wrench in my plans?"

Roxas took a moment to respond, thinking it over as he did "I am helping a friend." he spoke calmly.

"Oh helping a friend, well that clears **everything** up, yup definitely know who you are now," he said in a sarcastic tone, he squinted his eyes with spite and crossed his arms "Glad we're on the same page here."

"I'm not here to chat." Roxas said coldly as he raised the Oathkeeper aimed at his chest "I can tell you're leading this theft. Weiss needs you and I plan to deliver."

"Who in the world is Weiss?" he asked with a tilted head.

Roxas didn't answer, instead a loud clang echoed through the aircraft as his boot pounded on the metallic platform and pushed himself forward, shooting him like a bullet towards the man in the bowler hat.

He had reached the man in less than a second and was already swinging the oblivion at his head. To Roxas's surprise the man managed to rear back his head, avoiding the strike while lifting the end of his cane to the nobody's chest.

Knowing what comes next, Roxas batted the end of the cane away with the hilt of his Oathkeeper. A loud explosion suddenly erupted, striking the side of the carrier. The bright flash of light momentarily blinded the young nobody, but he could now feel a strong air current coming from where the explosion had ignited. Opening his eyes, he could see a massive whole in the metal works, revealing both the wing of the carrier along with a massive blue ocean down below. Roxas realized that they must have heading away from vale, otherwise there would be buildings and streets below. Turning back to the man in the bowler hat he saw that he too was blinking his eyes rapidly from the explosion.

"Crap... that is definitely not what I was trying to do..." he murmured as he stared out at rushing wind. Roxas turned his head to the sound of a blaring siren as a flashing light coated the carrier bay in bright red.

"Great, now look at what you've made me do." the man growled.

Roxas noticed that the view was starting to lower, the sight of the deep ocean slowly growing closer. Roxas took note not to use any magic in such a enclosed space, he guessed that a well placed firaga would most likely explode the entire plane.

"Well it looks like we're going down," The man in the bowler hat said with mild annoyance. "But I'll probably have enough time to finish you off before we do."

Roxas frowned before lifting his oblivion and with a flourish bringing it down on the redhead. The attack was halted as the man with the bowler hat raised his cane horizontally, needing to use both hands to stop the strike.

"You hit like a- oof!" before he could finish his words the Oathkeeper had been dug into his side, causing him to stumble back clutching his ribcage.

"You talk too much." Roxas said as he stepped forward, drawing back his oblivion before striking out with a vicious spin attack.

Roxas was mildly surprised to see the attack again deflected and to actually be put on the defensive as the man swung in his cane back at the young nobody's head. He dodged the attack easily and countered with a swipe meant to take out the man's legs. The keyblade struck air as the man stepped back, rearing his cane as he did so and stabbing it towards Roxas's chest. Roxas only grunted as he felt the blunt object make impact, forcing him to take a step back.

Growling, he decided to dash in low and then perform a massive upward strike with both key blades. As Roxas predicted, the move missed as the man with the bowler had stepped to the side, barely avoiding the maneuver and raising his cane in the process. Roxas could read the man's move perfectly as he used the force of gravity to aid him in bringing both keyblades down on the mans head, completely crushing the bowler hat in the process.

The man without the bowler hat fell as the two keyblades forced him to the ground with their impact.

Roxas was surprised to see that the man was still conscious as he began to slowly pick himself up. Rising to a knee he felt the cold hard metal of the oblivion at his neck before he could reach out for his cane.

He said raising his hands "Haha, look at you, it sure looks like you've got me huh?" he said in an almost sarcastic tone.

Roxas didn't say a word as he began to plan what he needed to do next. This plane was flying pretty low at this point and he knew that if it went down, the only aircraft that would be coming for them immediately would be more members of the white fang considering he had no way to contact anyone else.

"Speechless are you?" he asked with again no response, a grin began to spread across his face that left Roxas uncomfortable before he said "Oh where are my manners? I've forgotten to properly introduce myself." he lowered a hand and used it to motion to himself saying "I am Torchwick, Roman Torchwich. It is a pleasure to meet you, truly." he said, his words laced with sarcasm "And you are?"

Roxas remained quiet as he contemplated whether or not it was safe to create a dark corridor when the plane was moving at such high speeds. Usually when he used those portals it was at a stationary location.

"Oh come now it's rude to not properly introduce yourself, but if you insist on being quiet, I may as well continue with our introductions." Roxas shot him a cold stare of annoyance as the man continued talking, he noticed Roman's lips spread further into a devious smile "You see my friend just behind you..." as he said this Roxas heard the sound of a door opening from that wall situated just behind him. Spinning around he could only make out what appeared to be a...closed umbrella? Before feeling it collide with the side of his skull. The young nobody stumbled back from the suddenness of the blow, loosing his footing and falling to the ground onto his back.

"Her name is Neo." Roman finished his statement as he dropped his raised hands and collected his cane from the ground.

Roman stood next to the new figure who had emerged from what appeared to be the cockpit of the air craft. She bore a sly closed mouth grin resting below two eyes each of which were of a different color. One appeared to be a dark brown as the other had almost a light pinkish hue. These colors matched her hair color as as the right side of her hairline was a bright pink with white streaks while the other was a distinct brown. Her outfit appeared unique with a white jacket with a pink interior that only reached to just below her chest where a dark gray corset ran the rest of the way down her torso to her slightly exposed hips. Her legs were covered by well fitted brown pants and a pair of white boots that went up to just below the knee. She was twirling what appeared to be an unopened lightly colored umbrella around her finger as she stared down at him.

As Roxas rose back to his feet he took note of the girl's short stature. Even with the high heals of her boots, it appeared that she was still shorter than him, if only slightly.

"Now then, enough with the introductions. Let's..." he paused as he raised his cane towards Roxas "Get to to know each other."

Just as the words left his lips Roxas darted forward, attempting to perform a hammer-like strike towards the new girl followed by a spinning attack for Roman.

Roxas felt his first blow hit air but found that his next had been stopped by the man's cane. Rather than press the attack, Roxas found that he needed to jump back to avoid a swift stabbing attack from the silent woman's umbrella. He crossed his keyblades to stop a swing from Roman Torchwich. Using the unique curvature of both the Oblivion and the Oathkeeper he pinched the blades together, locking the cane in place before with a great show of strength tearing the weapon out of the man's hands.

He allowed the cane to drop to the floor and tried to begin his assault on the surprised form of Roman Torchwich but instead felt the nose of an umbrella stabbing into his side. He grunted in pain before turning to meet this 'Neo' individual. He barely ducked underneath a blow meant for his head before feeling a well placed kick strike his knee.

He grimaced as he dropped to one knee, feeling the pain of the blow pulsing on his leg. He lifted the Oathkeeper to his side, deflecting another strike from the almost brunette before attempting to counter attack with a wild swing of his Oblivion. However, due to his position the attack had little speed, and the girl easily stepped out of the way, positioning herself to deliver a powerful roundhouse to the side of his temple.

The young nobody called out in pain as his body collided with the ground from the force of the blow. Growling in frustration he quickly leapt to his feet, ignoring the pain in both his head and knee to whip around with his Oblivion out stretched for an attack. The young woman appeared ready for this however as she easily ducked the attack and drove her umbrella into his stomach. Roxas was quick to recover however as he decided to drop his OathKeeper and use the now free hand to grab hold of the odd choice in weaponry.

She appeared surprised with a wide eyed expression as Roxas tugged on the umbrella, pulling her closer to him as he drew back the Oblivion. The keyblade made contact with the petite woman and forced a cry of pain as she released her weapon due to being sent flying into the metal wall just behind her. Roxas tossed the umbrella to the side, discarding the weapon.

Just as the sound of her body making impact with the wall rang across the aircraft Roxas felt the sharp sting of a cane making impact with his cheek. The young nobody scowled as he recoiled from the blow, recovering quickly and turning to face Roman once again.

"You're certainly something kid, I'll give you that." he said, still with a confident grin plastered on his face "But let's be honest here," Neo was pushing herself off of the ground, a distinct frown forming from her lips. She glared at Roxas as she made her way over to Torchwich's side "You're out numbered, and outmatched. And with a sinking ship-" he gestured to the airplane which had come dangerously low to the water at this point "You haven't got a chance in the world of stopping us."

He leaned forward as he began his next statement, his smile shifting into a scowl "So give it up kid. You've lost."

Roxas's gaze dropped from the two as he stared off at the floor, wondering to himself if he really had failed. Was their a way for him to overcome them and still make it back? He knew he had a distinct disadvantage with having so little space around him to work with. If this had been a field he would have been able to space out his opponents, knock one away so that he could finish off the other effectively. That's how he'd always done it in his mission against the heartless. Not only that but his magic was restricted, if he used too strong of a spell he predicted that the metal around him would warp, bringing them down and crashing into the water which was almost skimming against the bottom of the plane at this point. Roxas predicted that they probably had less than a few minutes before they made impact.

 _...but maybe I want to bring this bird down..._

He thought to himself as a small grin formed on his face. He knew that the odds were not in his favor, but maybe he could turn the tides. Summoning the Oathkeeper back to his empty hand he raised both keyblades to either side of him and shouted "Firaga!"

The resulting explosion almost completely engulfed the trio, summoning a cry of surprise from both Roman and Neo. Roxas felt the nose of the plane suddenly hit the water and the entire craft comes to a sudden stop that sent all three crashing forward. Roxas felt his head strike the hard wall before his vision went black.

* * *

Awakened by the feeling of cold water splashing against his face, Roxas snapped his eyes open. He quickly took in his surroundings to see the carrier halfway submerged in water, the large hole in the side of the plane quickly pumping water as he watched. He heard what sounded like someone splashing through the water and turned his head to see Neo crouched down over Roman. He took note of the slow trickle of blood running down the side of her face as well as the unconscious form of Roman, slack jawed and limp. Roxas could distinguish the absolute fear in her eyes as she stared down at Roman, shaking him in a feeble effort for him to wake up. She was holding his head up, keeping it above the quickly rising water, but it was clear to Roxas that the petite woman was struggling to keep the grown man's torso even partially up.

Roxas slowly rose to his feet, making a small splash as he did and attracting the attention of Neo. She turned her head and her expression shifted from worry to anger in an instant, glaring at him with a deep frown, bordering on snarl. She too began to rise to her feet, picking up her umbrella from her side as she did so. However, as she began to stand to face the young nobody the man she had been supporting fell, submerging his head into the water.

Roxas watched in still silence as the woman immediately dropped her umbrella in panic and knelt back down to lift his head out of the water. She looked down at Torchwich with concern before looking back up at Roxas, this time however her expression was not that of anger.

It was the look of desperation.

It was as if she was telling the young nobody 'help me' with her wide and uncertain eyes. Roxas remained still for a short few seconds, it was a strange position to be in, you're enemy pleading for your help.

He couldn't bring himself to necessarily trust the young woman in front of him. She had been just attacking him minutes ago. He kept asking himself if this might be some sort of tactic to get him to drop his guard, giving her the opportunity to land the finishing blow. Roxas then realized that she had been conscious before he'd awoken, which meant that if she meant to kill him, she would have. Perhaps she had only just awoken seconds before he did and went to pull Torchwich out of the water? This would explain why she wouldn't have had time to finish the young nobody. Either way, Roxas couldn't know for certain, but watching the water flood the rapidly sinking aircraft Roxas recognized that this was not the time to stop and mull over things.

This was the time to act.

Roxas needed Roman, He knew that because Weiss needed Roman. To ensure that she would be given that second chance by her father, Roxas had to help this untrustworthy individual.

Roxas stepped forward and watched Neo closely as he did so, eying the hand nearest to her Umbrella to make sure there wasn't any sudden movement. He had a fleeting thought of just why she and Roman had chosen such bazaar items as their choice of weapons, but then he realized that he himself wielded oversized keys in combat and couldn't really talk.

He knelt down on the other side of the unconscious man and said " I can get us out of here, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let you guys go."

She nodded quickly seemingly understanding, her eyes still full of that same worry. It appeared to Roxas that she really cared for this man, whoever he was.

The nobody envied her for that. To still have someone like that.

He rose his hand, summoning a dark corridor from the water. The flames flickered for a short time when coming in contact with the water, but remained ignited none the less.

"Help me carry him through." Roxas stated calmly as he slung an arm over his shoulder before standing. As he moved towards the unstable portal he felt resistance from the other side. Turning his head, he saw Neo with wide eyes and a confused look staring at the purple and black flames.

"It's fine, it's just a portal," she still looked unconvinced as she took a step back, pulling Roman back with her. The water had risen to her waist at that point, and was colder than anything Roxas had ever experienced before.

His teeth had begun to chatter as he said " Look we don't have much time, We have to go now or soon we'll be submerged in water. Then I don't know if I'll be able to summon another portal at all."

Roxas watched the woman form a scowl before nodding, the two made wadded their way through the water before pushing themselves and the limp form of Torchwich into the darkness.

* * *

 _-The Depot-_

"Well... this sucks." Murmured Neptune as he sat on a nearby barrel alongside Weiss and Sun. The fight was over with every member of the white Fang laid out and groaning from their bruises and injuries, but all still alive. The Trio stared bored as Weiss called the police, explaining the events that had just transpired.

"I don't think that sucked, we got them didn't we?" responded Sun.

Neptune shook his head "We got the goons, not the main baddy. I'm pretty sure that guy with the red hair and the bowler hat was in charge... at least I think so by the way he was ordering people around."

"So?" Sun said with a growing smile "We still kicked but and stopped the robbery. I think that's pretty awesome by itself."

Neptune paused to think about his comment, a smile growing on his face "You know what? Yeah, you're right. That was pretty awesome."

Clapping a hand on his friend's shoulder, Sun exclaimed "That's the spirit!"

They both turned as Weiss closed her scroll and announced "The police are on their way. They should arrive in less than five minutes given how excited the guy sounded on the phone."

"Neat." said Neptune before turning back to look out at the scattered Bodies all lying on the floor "I wonder where Roxas went." He said with mild curiosity.

"Me too." agreed Sun.

"I do question his well being." Weiss said voicing her concern.

Sun smiled and waved away her concern "I'm sure he's fine. I saw what he was doing before we stepped in. He looked like a mini hurricane down there taking out those White Fang. I doubt there's too much that could put someone like that down."

"You never know," responded Neptune.

Sun rolled his eyes but saw movement as he did so. Turning his head, he saw what appear like Roxas half carrying the man who they'd seen earlier flee inside the plane. He had the unconscious man's arm slung over his shoulder, while on the other side a petite looking woman did the same. Behind them was only the slightest glimpse of a dark purple flame dissipating as they approached.

"Whoa! Roxas?" Sun exclaimed as he rushed over. Neptune and Weiss both turned to look and after some shock also came running over. As they drew closer they could see that all three characters were soaking wet with a small trickle of blood running down the young nobody's head. The unconscious man bore a similar injury running down the side of his face as the two laid him gently down on the cement.

Neo appeared apprehensive as the trio approached, and soon the loud sounds of sirens rang through the air, drawing closer as they did so.

She frowned as she looked down at the man and then back towards where the sounds of sirens were originating. Roxas could see a conflict raging in the back of her mind.

"Who's this?" Neptune said with a charming smile, approaching the young woman in a sly manner.

A sigh could be heard as she dropped her gaze, staring at Roman for several seconds as police cars pulled up followed by several ambulances. She dropped the man's arm from around her shoulder and Roxas stumbled from the shift in weight as she suddenly darted the opposite direction. Roxas pushed the unconscious man off of him and quickly followed, ignoring the confused reactions from his Neptune and Weiss. Sun however seemed to catch on quickly, running after the woman along side Roxas. The two watched her turn around a corner made by the stacks of freight containers and soon followed, but when they turned the corner, they saw no sign of her.

Sun growled in frustration before quickly scaling the Freight containers, stacked three high and peered out over the entire depot before frowning and jumping back down "How did we lose her? We were right on her tail there..." he asked both himself and Roxas puzzled.

The young nobody was beginning to feel the fatigue of the night's events as he responded "I don't know, she vanished."

By this time the Neptune and Weiss had caught up, joining them as Weiss asked "What exactly happened? Who was that woman?"

Roxas shook his head "I don't know for sure, she seemed like That man's assistant or something. He called her 'Neo'"

Roxas could tell that she had more questions to ask, but Just then the four were called over tot the police who were simultaneously cuffing Roman Torchwich and carrying him to the ambulance.

"Well then." Spoke Weiss "It does appear that we will have some explaining to do." Turning to Roxas she said "What exactly happened to you? Why are you soaking wet?"

Roxas bore a feint smile as he said "Well, I had to sink an airplane."

Weiss just stared at him blinking a few times before saying "I'm sorry, but would you mind repeating that?"

Roxas smiled.

 _ **Author's note:**_ _I haven't got much to say in regards to this chapter. I felt it was fairly dense and felt a little weird to write however I couldn't tell you exactly why if I had to. I've been feeling less motivation towards this story than usual and I suppose that is due to exhaustion. This is probably why it has taken me such a long time to complete the most recent chapters. I have specific time segments allotted for writing, and I've usually kept to that routine but at times I find myself barely able to write a paragraph or just having to sleep instead due to sleep deprecation_

 _Also, I've been having a tough time finding the right music to listen to while writing. The first 5 or so chapters have been inspired by 30 seconds to Mars primarily and during that time I literally couldn't stop writing the music was just so good. That is why those were pumped out so fast leading up to this chapter. As of late I've switched to Jeff Williams as I do like the RWBY sound tracks but even then I am barely inspired while listening. Not to say the music is bad, it just doesn't fall into the category of 'writer music' for me._

 _So for a personal request, I'm asking you my reviewers to make some suggestions to me. Following your review (if you are feeling like it) drop a song or two that you really like, and I'll compose a playlist out of the songs listed and see if maybe that can become my new writer's music._

 _All reviews will be responded to via PM!_


	11. Chapter 11: A Taste of the High Life

Roxas said very little as his comrades spoke in front of the camera's, each fighting for the attention of center stage. Soon following the police came the news crew attempting to document the entire event, and once they understood that the largest bust the city had ever seen had been organized by a handful of teens, they understandably wanted a long, extensive interview of their city's 'heroes'.

Roxas didn't like the attention, choosing to stand in the back as Neptune, Sun, and Weiss spoke of the exchange with grander and excitement. The young nobody could tell that Neptune and Sun were soaking in the attention, each cutting the other off as they both wanted to tell of their own impressive endeavors during the conflict. Weiss while also indulging the cameras appeared to do so in a less energetic manner. Roxas could sense pride in the young woman's words, she spoke with a resting smile on her face that bore the satisfaction of accomplishment. Roxas could tell that she was very pleased with herself and how the night had turned out.

After a group interview showcasing all who participated in the arrest came a posing segment where the news crew had the team pose in front of the fallen unconscious White Fang members as they were each individually being arrested and brought to what Roxas recognized as a paddy wagon.

Then came the individual interviews which the others welcomed while Roxas appeared bewildered. He found himself barely able to answer the questions with a short string of words as the others went on and on with their experiences.

"So what was the fuel in the back of your mind as you bravely fought on against this criminal organization?"

"Um, I dunno. I was helping a friend."

"That's very sweet sir, and at any point during the encounter did you believe that you were going to lose?"

"I guess."

"Would you mind sharing that moment?"

"Well when the plane started going down." Roxas answered awkwardly.

"So there was a plane involved at some point? Was there a crash?"

"Yes."

The rather attractive news lady shot a look towards her camera man that suggested frustration.

"When did this happen? There wasn't any reported debris from an aircraft."

"It was in the ocean."

Finally growing frustrated enough at his short and poorly constructed answers the woman smiled with annoyance still expressed in her eyes and said to the camera "Well there you have it. This has been Fall Redwood of Vale News, back to you at the studio."

The red light on the camera stopped blinking and the woman dropped her demeanor with a sigh, only turning towards Roxas with a frown before walking away with her camera man back to the van.

"That was AWESOME!" exclaimed Sun as he and Neptune approached with smiled carved on their faces. Weiss followed, also smiling.

"She was very pretty," Neptune said with a glazed over look in his eye, Roxas could tell that he was thinking about something else as he spoke.

Weiss rolled her eyes at his comment "That's not what was important here, we've all been credited on national news with what has been the largest bust the police have seen in a long time. Not only that, but we caught who the police told me was the man spear heading these thefts." she paused a moment before adding "Or at least, that's what they've been suspecting."

"EXACTLY!" Sun shouted with excitement "Do you think that the police force noticed us? I mean they took down our names and numbers!" he said turning to Neptune with energy.

Neptune snapped out of his strange pleasure filled daze and said with a rising excitement similar to Sun's "I don't know, but it looks promising! I bet they would definitely think us detective worthy with the work we did here."

Sun gasped and said in a choked up voice, tears forming at the corner of his eyes "Y-You really think so?"

Weiss interjected at this point "Honestly, a lot of this was blatant guess work. There was no way for us to know that the White Fang would go after this specific compound on this particular night. All we had to go off of was that they were in the area from the previous theft committed and that they are targeting Dust for some reason." she shrugged "In all seriousness, I believe we just got lucky."

"And it paid off!" Sun shouted in a cheer "I am so glad I decided to come with you guys, that was so freaking awesome!" he said literally unable to contain himself as his hands gestured wildly with enthusiasm.

After a short time discussing more about what they thought of the experience and Roxas remaining rather quiet throughout the whole exchange, they all said their goodbyes, making sure that they all had gathered the others numbers before Sun departed with Neptune.

"Well, that was an eventful evening." said Weiss.

"Yeah," said Roxas as he stared down at his dripping wet scroll. This revelation was a disappointment for him as he had tried to turn it on earlier with little success. Although he hadn't been using it for much, against better judgment he had decided to continue his conversations with Ruby over messages.

Seeing as he was constantly hunting Grimm in order to improve himself, she was very interested in listening to his accounts of just how he had taken down each beast. The two would discuss many things, but usually the conversation returned to Ruby asking him to come back to Beacon, to return to team PRJR. Roxas always explained to her why he shouldn't return, why it would be more dangerous for them if he did so and the Organization or that man who wore the black coat discovered Ruby or the team. Ruby usually understood, but that didn't stop her from asking time and time again. She also asked where he was in an effort for them to meet, but Roxas made sure to never divulge this information knowing that if he were ever spotted by the Organization that Ruby would be target number one. Roxas himself didn't quite understand his own reasoning for why he continued to talk to Ruby despite the logic in ignoring her completely and detaching all ties to Beacon. He knew in the back of his mind that he was putting her in danger by association, but he recognized it as minimal in that it was only short messages being received and sent. He also justified his reasoning by telling himself that if the Organization somehow did discover Ruby and his friends, Ruby would be able to contact him and warn him so that he could help.

He told himself all of this, but in the back of his mind he knew his true reasoning was it was better to talk to a friend over no one at all.

A cold shiver brought his attention back from his thoughts as his clothes were still wet and freezing.

"You need to get out of that coat and fast." said a mildly concern Weiss. She grabbed hold of his sleeve and squeezed, producing a notable about of water that splattered to the ground.

"Y-yeah," he said his voice beginning to chatter.

 _If only I had a spare set..._

he thought to himself as he tried to imagine what he would need to do to get out of this cold.

"It looks like your scroll was damaged too from the water... Where are you staying tonight? I could call you a taxi to take you wherever you need."

"Um..." Roxas responded without an answer, he didn't have a place to stay tonight. He had been playing the role of drifter for the past few weeks, finding shelter where he could as he continued to train against the Grimm.

After a few seconds of no answer, Weiss took on a solemn expression "Roxas..." she said with a pang of sadness "Do you have a place to stay tonight?"

He looked at the ground as he slowly shook his head.

Looking up, he could see sympathetic eyes meet his before she snapped her scroll open and said with a commanding voice "Well then, it seems you will be returning to my temporary residence for the time being."

"What?" Roxas asked surprised.

She began dialing a number, presumably for the taxi she had stated earlier "You have no place to stay and since you have been an invaluable member of this massively successful endeavor, I find it only suitable that you be given shelter and new clothes." the phone rang as she glanced over at his now broken scroll "I'll have that replaced as well."

Roxas looked down at the soaked device and then back up at her. This was all so strange to him that a woman he had only gotten to know today would go out of her way to help him like this. He almost had the urge to refuse her, lie to her and tell her that he actually just thought of a place he could go; but the cold was beginning to make his body shiver and that alone was swaying his decision.

"...okay... thank you Weiss." he said in a low tone.

She smiled back at him "It's the least I can do."

Only a few minutes went by before the sound of a car pulling up could be heard down the road from where they were standing.

She sighed "They must have gotten the address wrong, come now, It looks like it's only a short walk."

He followed her, looking for what he typically imagined a taxi to look like,yellow with large black numbers on the side. When he walked past a bright white limousine he didn't even bat his eye but halted when Weiss grabbed his arm.

"Huh?" he said turning back.

"You walked past our ride." she said flatly as the driver stepped out of the car and went around to open the door for them.

"This is what we're taking?" Roxas said in surprise.

Weiss clearly read his expression and appeared amused by it "Yes Roxas, now get in, I imagine that you're cold."

Roxas only nodded, envisioning just what he would be in store for when they finally reached their destination.

* * *

 _-Schnee Manor-_

This had not what he had been expecting.

He had already assumed that Weiss had come from wealth from the way she carried herself along with the limo that had pulled up to take her to her destination, but he hadn't pictured this.

What stood before him was an at least 30 floor tall massive luxury hotel that appeared to have many balconies with pools on each residing for personal residence. The ground floor had an elaborate design drive in that from what Roxas could tell had personnel in red vests that took the key from the driver and parked them somewhere else for the owner. Roxas didn't know what those people were called.

As they pulled in towards the front doors Roxas took note of what he could vaguely recall as a 'bellhop' coming to grab their luggage. Weiss waved him away as she stepped out of the car with Roxas quickly following suit. The young nobody quietly trailed behind her as they stepped into the lobby. His jaw fell as he absorbed the red lavish carpet leading to the rounded polished oak front deck laced at the edges with what appeared to be real gold. The walls were coated with intricately designed wallpaper, that of which left Roxas studying the impressive swirls and dark patterns for some time before Weiss called his attention over to the front desk where she was standing.

There were many other people in the lobby, it appeared that the personnel there all bore similar red vests and black khaki's as a standard uniform, but it was the people staying there that caught the nobody's eye. They were clad in impressive fur coats and scarfs, nice pearl snap collar shirts that looked so impossibly white Roxas questioned how they remained clean. Black shiny dress shoes that showed a person's reflection if they looked into them at the right angle and jewelry that Roxas knew was real, and very, very expensive.

Roxas walked over to Weiss who was patiently waiting for him at the counter where a pleasant looking lady stood behind the front desk. As he approached he took note how many eyes were on him. Looking around him, he could tell that almost every set of eyes were staring at him with a looking of confusion stretched on their faces.

Roxas couldn't tell why they were staring at him like that,

until he heard a drip.

Looking down at his coat he realized just how out of place he must have appeared, a soaking wet teenager clad in a simple black coat and combat boots walking through a lobby where the high end of society was expected. Turning back he realized that he had small trail of water on the carpet leading to where he stood, still dripping. He averted his gaze downward, studying the floor as he stood still and very stiff next to Weiss who was arranging the rooms.

He was already regretting accepting her offer. His entire point of leaving Beacon was so that he could stop attracting attention to himself, now he had been on nation television and was turning heads left and right at this new hotel.

"Two room please, preferably side by side." she said with command in her voice. Roxas took note of that seeming to be her default tone.

"Yes Ms. Weiss, Right away." The woman hurried to input the numbers in her keyboard before turning and pulling two identical key cards off the wall "Rooms 85 and 86 are available for you ma'am, on the 15th floor."

Weiss took the two key cards with a smile "Thank you," she said before making her way to the elevator situated across the room. Roxas disliked the attention he was receiving as he made his way through the lobby, turning heads as the two stepped into the metal contraption.

The doors closed and Weiss said "Ignore those people, they have too many materialistic values to be relevant."

Roxas only nodded as they rose.

* * *

Roxas was again taken aback as he stepped into what Weiss had told him was his room. He stared at the massive television mounted on the wall and the king size bed situated in the center of the room. There was a cooler placed near the back patio in which he found several colorfully designed drinks. He opened one and found the taste foul as he almost immediately spit it out. Weiss, who had walked into the room with him scolded him for doing so and told him to put it back.

"You need to get out of those soaked clothes anyway, take them off and take a long bath or something, I'll have someone get a change of clothes by the time your out."

"Oh, okay." he said as he unzipped the heavy coat and heard it drop like a brick to the floor due to the water weight.

He stepped into the bathroom to before he removed the rest of his soaked attire as he heard Weiss leave through the front. He gazed at the bathtub, a massive cavity that could easily fit three of him with it's width and length. He drew a hot bath and slipped in, letting the water rise to his chin as he closed his eyes and with a relaxed sigh finally got to rest.

* * *

Roxas was awoken by a knocking on the door. He heard the front door open and shortly followed by the sound of steps walking across the room to the bed, a pause, and then the steps heading back to the door which was promptly shut.

Roxas rose from the water which was luke warm at this point and wrapped his lower body with a towel before stepping out. He found a set of neatly folded clothes at the foot of the bed. Lifting the shirt to his chest and eying the pants underneath he noticed a distinct color scheme of which he could not say he was particularly used to. Both the well ironed collared button down shirt along with the well fitted khakis shared a snow white complexion. Even the shoes presented, a simple lace up shoe that had flat simple soles, were a matching snow white to the rest of the outfit.

Roxas looked at himself in the body length mirror available next to the bath and found that he had never seen himself wearing so much white before, it was almost blinding.

Only a few minutes later he heard the sound of knocking once again. He opened the door to find Weiss content as she held her hands behind her back. She smiled as she opened the door, looking him up and down, studying the new attire.

"Well don't you look sharp. I was wondering when the help would be sending those up. I hand selected those you know." she said appearing very pleased with herself.

"Oh," he said looking down at the clothes one more time before turning his head up and asking "You really like the color white huh?"

"What?" she said with the smile fading from her lips "Do you not like it?"

Roxas shook his head "It's fine, I will probably better blend in with the people downstairs anyway."

"...Blend in? Why do you feel the need to 'blend in'? Did I not already tell you that the opinions of those nose raising snobs down there don't matter?"

"Yeah... you're Right." Roxas said playing along. In all reality he cared very little as for whether or not those people in the lobby had a high opinion of him, he simply didn't want to be turning heads regardless of if it were for good or bad reasons. After the night he'd had, with a news crew doing a sudden interview that placed him on national television, Roxas couldn't help but believe that he could have very well attracted the attention of those he had been trying to stay hidden from.

Roxas could hear her continue speaking about some sort of dinner as he contemplated just how much longer he wanted to stay here. Yes he was clean now and no longer battling the cold wind in wet clothes, but how much more of this stay should he allow? He suspected that if there were people who had seen the broadcast who coincidentally were after him, it wouldn't be very difficult tracking him down in this place.

"Well? Are you ready or not?" Weiss said as she motioned towards the door.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts he turned to her and responded with an appropriate "Huh?"

' "The dinner Roxas." She said rolling her eyes as if she had already said this, which she probably had "My sister is also staying here and told me she was interested in meeting the young man responsible for bringing in such a infamous criminal."

"Huh?" he asked confused "You mean Roman right? But didn't the news crew say that we all did that?"

Weiss waved off his confusion "I told her the truth. She was rather stunned to discover I had succeeded in my endeavor against the White Fang and wanted specific details regarding the event. When I made mention of your participation she grew quite curious and requested that she meet you. No need to be humble Roxas, you are quite exemplary I assure you."

Roxas shook his head "I'd rather not have you telling people about me..."

Weiss shot him a confused look "And why is that Roxas?"

Roxas realized she must have forgotten what he had told her, about those after him. He shook his head, he figured the least he could do for being provided a place to stay for the night was join her and her sister for a dinner without causing worry"It's nothing. Let's go."

* * *

Roxas found himself staring at the food set in front of him. He had ultimately decided to order the same as Weiss, but when it arrived he soon regretted his decision.

 _I can't even make out what this is...it's all yellow and squishy_

He thought quietly to himself as he listened to the gentle taps of silver silverware making contact with plates and bowls. The restaurant they had chosen was adorned with expensive looking decorations coating the walls and intricate window designs revealing the outside with a yellow tinted view. The tables were astounding with large impressive center pieces each varying so that the tables all felt unique to one an other, but still connected through the general theme of expensive taste the restaurant appeared to have.

Roxas held the fork loosely in his hand, averting the staring gaze of who Weiss had introduced to him as 'Winter'.

Roxas had deemed the name fitting as their introduction to one an other felt colder than ice. Both he and Weiss had approached the table in a casual manner before freezing in step as she turned her head, shifting her gaze to their forms. Roxas noticed the similarities between she and Weiss almost immediately as the two shared the same fair complexion and white hair. Her hair was tied up in a bun at the rear left corner of her head, causing her bangs to fall towards the right side of her face, and leaving a small curled lock of hair that reached below her left ear. Her attire was blue, white and gray colored consisting of a white coat with a red brooch, exposed upper arms and black gloves with her similarly themed pants having garters incorporated into them.

"Hello sister." Weiss said with a small curtsy.

"Hello Weiss," Responded the piecing woman. Roxas could feel the same commanding aura coming from this woman as he had sensed with Weiss, but amplified by fifty. He cold blue eyes appeared to stare through him as he stood there, his ocean blue eyes staring back.

"So am I to assume that this young man is the one you told me about?" she asked.

Weiss was quick to respond in a polite yet firm manner "Yes ma'am, this is Roxas. He was crucial to our success tonight, and an excellent hunter."

"Hunter?" Winter responded with question "Roxas, are you a hunter?"

Not quiet sure if the term applied to him, he responded saying "No, I don't think so anyway."

"You are uncertain?" she said in a monotone voice.

"...What does it mean to be a hunter?" He asked honestly "I've fought what feels like hundreds of Grimm, but Beacon has told me that there is more to it."

For the first time, she smiled "That, young man, is an excellent question." with a motion of her hand she said "Please sit, this is a discussion that should be had over a meal."

The two obliged, and soon Roxas was sitting with what he had been told was some sort of amphibian on his plate. He still didn't trust it enough to put it in his mouth, so he stuck to drinking the sweat beverage that had been brought to him.

"There are many definitions to what a 'hunter' or huntress' truly is." she began, pausing as she took a sip of the tea she had ordered; Weiss quietly chewed on the rubbery meal, smiling as she did so "Some say it's a being that fights the forces of darkness, those who threaten the good in the world which is widely believed to be Grimm."

Roxas peered on, surprised by the look of enjoyment strewn on Weiss's face as she neatly cut another slice of whatever it was she had chosen and plopped it into her mouth. Roxas looked down at his own with new found curiosity.

"However, I believe that there is much, much more to it that that. Evil takes many forms, the Grimm of this world are the most literal manifestation of evil, but they are hardly dangerous in comparison to what truly threatens this world."

"And What's that?" Weiss asked.

"Ourselves." Winter said simply.

"Huh?" Responded the younger Schnee sister.

"Nothing is more dangerous to mankind than mankind. There is no threat more powerful, nor conniving than man."

"Oh, well isn't that's obvious." Responded Weiss "Of course Grimm are not as smart as us, that's why we're able to enjoy a meal like this without worry of being attacked. We've found ways to be safe from such barbaric threats."

"But it is not that simple sister." she said in a sharp tone "Have you ever heard of the saying 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'?"

Both she and Roxas nodded, although Roxas himself couldn't remember where he had heard it.

"Well think of this, The Grimm have been mankind's greatest enemy for as long as history has been recorded. The Grimm have been a force that unified the four nations as one to better strive towards our collective survival and progression. This is why there has been such prolonged peace between the four nations, because we've been too busy dealing with the Grimm threat to even consider that neighboring nations could be a threat."

"Okay," Weiss said, putting down her fork as she grew more interested in the topic at hand "But wouldn't that be a could thing? Why would it be bad that there are no national conflicts?"

"Because it leaves us blind to the possibility." she said with a stern expression "If man trusts man only because there are Grimm as a unified enemy, then man will not see when the evil of mankind stabs them in the back."

"You're saying that trust makes you vulnerable." Roxas stated understandingly

She nodded "Exactly, as a people we've grown too comfortable with the situation at hand and believe because of it that there will never be those who will try and hurt us; Nor those who will be capable enough to do so."

"Well I know that there are bad people in the world." Weiss said with a smirk " I mean I did just stop a massive White Fang Robbery."

"Oh?" responded Winter with raised eyebrows "You say that but do you truly believe it? Tell me, when you walked to sit down, did you evaluate each and every person dinning here? Considering Any person can become a 'bad' person."

"Oh um..."

Before she could answer Winter spoke again "Without looking, can you describe to me who's having the meal situated in the booth just behind you?"

"I-, um. No I can't." Weiss averted her gaze down towards the soft velvet table cloth.

Winter shook her head "See? This is what I mean when I say blind. People today are too trust-"

Roxas, who was seated just next to Weiss said "A slightly overweight man with a long brown beard and a curled mustache. He has a monocle in one eye and his shirt is slight unbuttoned to let his stomach hang out."

Weiss turned and stared at Roxas with genuine surprise before turning her head to confirm that he had been correct. Sure enough, the man behind them matched the description. Winter adopted a shocked expression as she stared at Roxas with disbelief. Soon a smile spread from her lips and she said "Well well well. Quite impressive young Hunter in training, I genuinely didn't expect you to be paying that close of attention."

 _Well when you have as many people after you as me you tend to keep an eye out_

He quietly thought to himself as he shrugged "I guess I just noticed it."

"I see," she said giving him look that ran up and down his form, Roxas could sense that she was inspecting him closer now "Well now, to answer your initial question of what a Hunter or Huntress should truly look like, I believe that they should be aware of the dangers and evils of the world at all times, even those that have not yet revealed themselves as a threat. It is their job to protect the people from the forces of evil, so if that threat has already had a chance to rear it's ugly head and strike, then it's already too late. It's all well and good to stop a rampaging Ursa in the town hall, but in all reality that Grimm should have been dispatched the moment it stepped into town."

She shot a look towards Roxas that the young nobody couldn't quite decipher the meaning of before continuing "A true Hunter, will assure that a threat is eliminated before it ever reaches fruition."

* * *

After dinner Roxas and Weiss each pleasantly said their goodbyes to Winter who had told them earlier of an important military operation she had to be prepared for in the morning. Apparently it was several towns away and she would need to fly over night to reach it in time.

Weiss and Roxas headed up the elevator, stepping out as their conversation continued.

"That went very well Roxas. I think she may actually like you." Weiss said proudly.

"Yeah?" Roxas asked somewhat surprised "She seemed rather cold."

Weiss waved her hand motioning that his comment was redundant "That's just how she behaves in general. She was a pleasant morning breeze during that dinner. You should see when she becomes a winter storm."

"Huh," Roxas mumbled as he tried to envision what that would be like.

"Either way, here, I forgot to give this to you earlier." she said pulling out what appeared like a shiny new scroll.

Roxas gingerly took the device from her hands before opening it up and scrolling through it's new software "Thank you," he said surprised she had been able to get one so fast "Ummm," he began awkwardly "How much is it?" he knew that the device was most likely expensive given it's quality, and although he had no real concept of money for this world, he imagined he would have to pay for it somehow.

She shook her head "Consider it paid in full for your excellent work as a Hunter tonight. No further payment necessary."

"Oh, thanks." he said appreciative of the fact that he wouldn't have to figure out a method to money making. Soon his expression changed to a frown as he realized "I don't remember anyone's numbers."

"Oh that's a simple problem, here, do you still have your old scroll?" she asked with an outstretched hand.

"Uh yeah, it's still broken though." he grumbled as he withdrew the device from his pocket, handing it to the girl in white.

"Hmmm," she said examining the device on both sides. After a short time she smiled and said "Well at least it doesn't look like it was damaged to an extreme, the receiver card is still intact."

She took the old scroll and held it up to the new one, pressing a small spherical button on each before an audible beep sounded from both in unison.

"There," she said very pleased with herself as she handed the new device back.

Roxas opened the new scroll and was pleasantly surprised to see all of previous information had returned with no immediate discrepancies. Even the new message from Ruby had been received, which Roxas promptly opened and peered at its contents.

The message read

' _Roxas! I just saw you on the News! Did you help stop a robbery or something? That's so cool! Make sure to tell me all about it later! Talk to you then!'_

He grinned before pocketing the new scroll planing to answer later.

As they passed a small shiny metallic waste bin Weiss slid the old broken device in, it fell with a small clunk.

"Now then, we should discuss our plans for tomorrow in regards to what we want to do heading forward, I was thinking that we try to establish a deeper connection against the White Fang and discover just what they were up to with all that Dust." Weiss began as they continued down the hallway to their collective rooms.

Roxas listened on before his ears caught the slightest sound of metal tinging against metal, like something being slid out a metallic cylinder. Roxas turned his head and saw the slightest wisp of black smoke fading away next to the bin they had just walked past.

His eyes grew large.

Without a word he turned and sprinted back towards the bin, throwing the lid off and staring down at it's contents. He couldn't find the scroll.

Weiss was quick to follow him back to the bin "Roxas! What was that about? What is wrong?"

Roxas was quiet for several seconds, his mind racing before he turned to Weiss and said with urgency "We need to get back to Beacon. Now."

* * *

 _ **Author's note**_

 _Hello all! I suppose it has been another long stretch without an update but I assure you that I'm trying to get better at that. This chapter was meant to be more but I realized that I needed to take a break from the action for a time being otherwise I feel Roxas wouldn't be able to catch his breath. The scene with Winter was originally intended to be a probing mission for her trying to discover more about Roxas and him trying to avoid the questions as reasonably as possible, but then It began upon a different path and I think I liked it more. I think this chapter held a tad bit more detail than I'm used to and I'm pleasantly surprised by it. Also, Thank you to all who have been sending me those song suggestions, sure enough I have been composing a playlist out of them and it has been helping to a certain extent. If you find a song you'd like to suggest, please leave it in your review and I'll make sure to add it. Later I'll share the list here in the AN so that you all can see the playlist that has formed._

 _All reviews will be responded to via PM!_


	12. Chapter 12: A Return To The Simple Life

_-Beacon Academy-_

A dark flame erupted from the carpet centered in the middle of the four beds evenly spread out along the rectangular sized dorm. Roxas emerged from the flames in a panic, his weapons, the Oblivion and Oathkeeper in each hand as he sprinted through the portal. He stopped the moment he felt himself exit the darkness and surveyed his surroundings, letting his eyes adjust to the dark before looking to see...

Ruby, Pyrrha and Jaune all fast asleep snugly wrapped within their blankets in their respective beds. Roxas's head darted back and forth, searching for anything even remotely out of the ordinary. He found nothing, well, aside form the fact that his pillow had been moved since the last time he had been there. He couldn't understand why that appeared strange to him.

The dark corridor behind him started to fade out of existence before a heavily white looking figure came rushing through. Roxas found himself falling back as the figure collided with him, knocking him down and falling on top of him.

Weiss's shrill voice rang through the room "What in the world was-"

Roxas quickly covered her mouth with one hand and brought his index finger to his lips with the other "Shhhhhh..." he whispered. Turning his head he saw Ruby shift slightly, grumbling about some large cookie before going still once more.

Weiss took notice of the sleeping students as well and nodded before turning a bright shade of red from seeing how she was positioned atop the young nobody. She had fallen atop him in a fashion that resulted in her legs spreading out across the young man's lap. She was quick to scramble to her feet as Roxas stared on in confusion by the girl's rather embarrassed expression. He rose to his feet as well and motioned towards the door. Weiss nodded and the two quietly exited the room and stepped into the hallway before talking.

"I have questions." Weiss said the moment Roxas shut the door behind them.

"Yeah, I figured." Roxas answered.

"What in the world was that black... wisp thing we just went through? Was that a portal of sorts?"

Roxas nodded "Yeah essentially, I'm sorry I wasn't able to explain it before, we had to get here as soon as possible. It's called a dark corridor. It can... basically take you anywhere you can picture in your head." he said trying to do his best to explain it.

"Wow." she said with raised eye brows, she remained slack jawed for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and starting "I've never see anything like that in my life! I didn't think that anyone had mastered Dust well enough to actually summon yourself to another location miles away!" She paused with pursed lips "Hmmm, is there a range limit to this technique? Who taught it to you? Or did you discovered this yourself? You know if you were to patent this technique you could make millions teaching it to eager students. Speaking of which I demand you teach me that. That could possibly be the most revolutionary means to travel ever created using Dust. By the way, what Dust element were you using? That certainly wasn't one I recognized."

Roxas took a step back, bewildered by the bombardment of questions. Pausing just a second after Weiss finished, he chose to answer "There is no range limit as far as I know... It was taught to me by the people I told you were after me. I don't know if I would be able to teach you as it's something I barely remembered learning. And it is not the most revolutionary way to travel as it is far from safe. It's literally a tear into the darkness of worlds to traverse through, like a short cut. Being suspended in darkness for too long could be...bad ."

"Being suspended in darkness?" Weiss was quick to question "What do you mean by that?" she paused a second before asking "What could happen to us if we stay in the darkness for too long."

Roxas had to think to answer this question "In all honesty, I don't know for certain. I've only been told that there would be consequences if I traveled from world to-" he stopped himself "Er- well if I traveled too far without wearing the protection of my black coat."

Her eyes became ovals as she said with a worried tone "You mean that black coat I saw you in? Is that why you are always wearing that? To protect yourself?"

He nodded.

"So..." she appeared worried in those following seconds "Are, are we okay?"

He nodded again "We weren't in there long. We should be fine."

She breathed a sigh of relief before retorting "That is good."

"We should probably go and-"

"Wait a minute-" Weiss interrupted "I still have other questions."

Roxas sighed "You do?"

Weiss shot him a look that said 'obviously'.

"...you want to know why I hurried us here... don't you?" Roxas murmured unamused.

She nodded with a very serious expression "I want answers. You've been a total mystery up until this point. I want you to break it down for me. Who exactly are you Roxas? And why is it that the moment we ran back to the trash can, you summoned us to this dorm."

"I think we'd both like to know that." a voice suddenly echoed through the hallway. Footsteps could be heard moving towards them as the two teens turned towards the voice.

"Professor Ozpin?" questioned Weiss, startled to find him here.

"Yes, and it is a pleasure to see you Ms. Schnee. I am glad to see you back after such a... sudden departure."

The girl clad in white huffed before crossing her arms and looking away. Ozpin closed the distance between them and turned to Roxas, who bore an expression of surprise.

"How...?" The young Nobody was bewildered by how Ozpin had managed to show up just as they'd arrived. It was late at night at this point, well past standard class hours. He couldn't believe that the headmaster had just happened to be having a stroll by his dorm at this time of night.

"How did I get here so soon?" he asked with his usual pleasant smile plastered on his face "As this school's headmaster I must assure that my students are in no danger while attending Beacon academy. That is of course, unless it was class time." He chuckled at his own joke.

Both Roxas and Weiss only stared at him in response.

The professor sighed before saying "I suppose I should have just responded with 'I have my ways' but now isn't the time for small talk. So Roxas, would you care to explain your actions? And just what you've been running from?"

Roxas took a long time to respond to the man's question, opening and closing his mouth as he tried to find the right words. The young Nobody's breath quickened as the thought of spilling the truth, the absolute truth floated through his mind.

"I- well... Uh-"

Ozping raised a hand, signaling for him to pause " Take a second to breath. How about I change the question this time around?"

Roxas slowly nodded his head, equally confused by the way his body was responding to these seemingly calm questions and by the fact that he was finally being asked to explain who exactly he was.

"How about you just tell me why you don't want to reveal who you are, and what it is you are running from?"

Roxas noted that his quickened breathes slowly regulated to their normal pace as he thought over the answer.

Finding the words this time around was much easier as he said " Because then you would know that I'm not the person you think I am... You would know that I am not truly a person... or at least not a complete one."

Roxas saw out of the corner of his eye Weiss tilt her head at his statement "not a complete person...?"

"Hmmm..." Ozpin responded with a puzzled expression "That sounds like quite the dilemma."His smile, which had faded with Roxas's response suddenly returned with it's normal fashion "But perhaps this conversation can be suspended until morning. I suggest we all get a good night's sleep." Turning to Weiss he said "If you would please follow me I will escort you to your dorm Ms. Schnee in case you may have forgotten where it was located."

"What?" Weiss suddenly broke out of her puzzled gaze towards Roxas "We're staying here?" she asked in disbelief.

"Well, considering your friend Roxas had some very important reasons to get here this instant I assume that he doesn't want to leave immediately after. Besides that it is rather late as of now, most private aircraft will not likely be immediately mobile at this time. So your private family jet will have to wait until morning."

Weiss turned to Roxas with a panicked expression "You can't be serious right now. I don't want to stay at this school!"

Roxas averted her gaze bringing his attention to the floor "Sorry Weiss, I... I have to stay here..." The young Nobody didn't know just when Organization XIII or the man in the coat would appear again, but he knew that they would come here when they did.  
 _And I need to be ready for when that happens_

He thought to himself.

"Well then it is settled." Ozpin said in a 'matter of fact' tone. Turning, he began walking down the hall without checking to see if Weiss was following him. The young woman shot Roxas a single glance of annoyance before reluctantly tailing behind the older gentleman.

Realizing he was being left behind Roxas called out "Where am I supposed to sleep?"

The young Nobody heard the headmaster chuckle as he continued to walk away "If I'm not mistaken I believe you are standing right in front of your dorm right now young student."

Roxas turned his head to peer at the door to his old dorm.

"This morning going to be hectic..."

* * *

Ruby's eyes squinted as the morning light peered in and stuck her face. She rose with a groan and stretched an arm as she sat up in her bed. Rubbing the sleepy out of her eyes she noticed that the rest of her team were all still asleep,which was unusual as she was usually the last to wake up in the morning. She watched as Jaune lightly snored with the blankets chaotically spiraled around him. Pyrrha appeared much more peaceful as she snuggled further under her blanket, tightening the cloth up to her face as she slumbered. Turning her head she noticed Roxas resting in the normal manner he did, calm and-

"ROXAS?!" she suddenly blurted out immediately snapping her eyes wide open.

Roxas jolted as he heard his name called, quickly raising his head with a panicked expression. Adjusting to the dreariness of being awoken so suddenly, he very slowly realized that it was Ruby who had called his name, and was currently leaping out of her bed towards him.

"GAH!" he called out in surprise as the young Raven haired girl fell atop him, wrapping him in a warm hug that he slowly found himself reciprocating. Looking over her shoulder he noticed both Jaune and Pyrrha begin to stir from their sleep.

"Where have you been? It's been so long!" Ruby called out, choking up on her words as she hugged him tightly.

"I um, I've been... uh- busy." he said slightly surprised that he had actually fallen asleep. The young Nobody had made a point to stay up for the night, just in case anything could have happened while asleep, but it appeared that the calling of his soft familiar bed had been too much for his tired body to resist.

"I've missed you so much!" she said with a bright smile as she pulled away, finally releasing him from her hug which Roxas had found pleasant.

The young Nobody smiled back and said "I missed you too."

"Roxas?" croaked a dry sounding Jaune who clearly needed a cup of water. Rubbing his eyes as he sat up, he cleared his throat and said with surprise "Oh wow! It is you!" he said with earnest excitement.

Pyrrha sighed as she sat up in the bed but with the sheets still tightly wrapped around her "I was actually enjoying a very pleasant dream you guys, what's all the-" turning her head mid-sentence she caught sight of Roxas sitting there with a slight smile on his face. She smiled back after the initial surprise and said "It's good to see you Roxas...! So, are you planning on sticking around this time?"

The three students each stared at the young Nobody eager for a response.

It didn't take long for Roxas to come to his conclusion, he no longer had the luxury of keeping his friends hidden from the Organization. He needed to be here to protect them.

"Yes, I do."

* * *

The following day was strenuous to say the least. Weeks had passed since Roxas had last attended his classes, and in that time a small mountain of homework and essays had managed to accumulate, all of which he was told he had to complete in order to return to his previous grade.

"Wow..." he muttered under his breath as he looked upon the large stack of papers staring back at him. He could barely fit the stack in his hands as he brought it to his desk and set it down with a powerful sounding _THUD_. Sitting down he sighed as he mentally prepared himself for what he was in for, Roxas had decided that he would finish this immediately so that he wouldn't have to deal with the strange arbitrary workload the teachers assigned throughout the rest of the semester.

"You got this!" Ruby said patting him on the back.

Pyrrha was on his other side with a chair pulled up "Don't worry, We've had to complete these very assignments ourselves. I can tell you first hand that they aren't very difficult at all."

Ruby shot her a look that suggested that she disagreed with the flame haired girl but didn't voice this opinion. Instead, the youngest member of team PRJR exclaimed "Plus you have the two of us to help! I know you haven't been here to learn this stuff, but since we've already done this I bet it'll be easier than pie!"

Roxas felt a vibration from his pocket and noticed a message from Weiss saying " _I need to talk to you. You promised answers and I haven't gotten any_ "

Roxas was quick to respond, trying his best to stall for time he said " _I'll tell you tomorrow, wait until then. It's the weekend, so you won't have to go anywhere today."_

Placing the scroll back in his pocket he felt several following vibrations in a rapid succession. Roxas concluded that they were most likely angry protests from the easily annoyed young woman, but decided to ignore it to focus on the task at hand. It was an hour from noon, and he needed to get started if he wanted to finish.

Jaune had told them beforehand that he had other plans to attend to and that he would stop by later to help if he had time. Roxas couldn't blame the teen. From what the young Nobody understood the weekends were student's only time to do anything besides school work; the fact that Ruby and Pyrrha had decided to reschedule their plans to assist him was a selfless generosity that Roxas could appreciate.

"Thanks guys..." Roxas muttered still dumbfounded by the amount of work that sat in front of him. Pulling the first sheet off from the top of the bundle, he began.

* * *

 _-12 hours later-_

Roxas, Ruby, and Pyrrha were all three visibly fried from the workload. Ruby was laying the side of her face on the desk with slumped shoulders as her eyes tiredly followed Roxas's pencil. The utensil was making slow, painstaking strokes across the paper as the tired Nobody did his best to fight through the aches in his hand. Pyrrha, while doing her best to maintain her composure, was also showing signs of fatigue as her usual perfect posture had fallen to a slouch and he eyes were only half open; although she still maintained a feint smile.

Roxas himself was looking the worst out of the three, but was still determined to complete this painfully boring task. His body was slumped over the paper, his neck and back bent to better lean over his assignment. His left forearm carried the weight of his body as his right continued to scribble away using the fourth pencil he had burnt through. After a few more seconds his pencil stopped. Dropping the piece of lead he finally leaned back and felt his spine and neck audibly pop in rapid succession as he began to stretch and twist his body from the suspended stillness it had endured for the past several hours.

Ruby perked up as he did this, lifting her head from the wooden desk "Done?" she said with hope in her voice.

"Here," he said as he passed her the essay. It had been a paper with the topic of Dust conversions being applied to everyday life and how such a technology shaped the world of Remnant.

Ruby lifted a shaky hand and took the paper from him. Her eyes raked through the paper lazily, flipping through page after page until she finally finished.

Smiling she said "It looks good to me... Pyrrha?" she said as she handed over the document.

"It probably it alright, I just want to check is all." she said with a courteous tone. Both Ruby and Roxas watched as her focused eyes combed over the paper. Pyrrha was the real test to see if an assignment was done. She would spot out the seemingly most miniscule of mistakes which lead to Roxas wondering if Pyrrha was maybe too much of a perfectionist.

After several minutes of unbroken tension Pyrrha's smile curled from her lips and said "Looks good to me guys."

Ruby jumped out of her seat as she cheered "FINALLY DONE WOOOOO!"

Roxas gingerly took the paper from Pyrrha and placed it atop the 'done' pile which was directly adjacent to the 'to do' pile, which was finally empty.

Pyrrha laughed at Ruby's outburst but was quick to place a finger to her lips "Ruby it's really late right now, perhaps you shouldn't be so loud at such an hour."

Ruby immediately placed a hand over her own mouth to cover up the squeal that was still trying to force it's way out.

The young raven haired girl wrapped Roxas up in a hug and said "Now you'd better not ditch us again otherwise you're on your own next time you get a workload like that!"

Roxas nodded as he said "I understand... That was horrible. Homework is horrible."

"It was definitely tough," Pyrrha said as she rose from her seat, her back popping as she did so "But we did it guys, well done team."

She slowly began to make her way over to the bed where she lifted the covers and slumped in. Ruby released the young Nobody and also made her way to her bed where she collapsed immediately face first.

Roxas checked the time and noted that it was already early morning and was quick to enter his bed. Before he laid his head down however he noticed that the bed next to Pyrrha's, Jaune's, was still empty.

"Where's Jaune?" asked Roxas with mild curiosity. The Nobody had expected Ruby or Pyrrha to panic with the realization that Jaune was missing. Instead he received a tired yawn and a drowsy barely attentive response.

"He has been doing this every other night at this point, no cause for alarm. He told us that its because he had taken a part time job that works late hours."

Ruby giggled as she whispered over to Roxas with a hand cupping her mouth "Yang thinks he has a ~ _girlfriend~_ he's been spending all his time with."

Roxas noticed Pyrrha's form stiffen as her sharp ears caught onto what Ruby had said.

Sounding almost irritated, the young red head said "I have my doubts on that being the case."

Ruby turned to her and asked after a long yawn "Well Don't you think it could be true?"

A long pause ensued before Pyrrha responded "...I don't know, he told us he's been out late with a part time job making deliveries. I choose to believe him."

And with that the conversation ended, The room grew silent as Roxas listened to the rhythmic sound of Ruby's and Pyrrha's quiet breathing as they slowly slipped into a deep sleep. Roxas let his head rest on his pillow, slipping his hand beneath the soft fabric before he made a sudden realization. His hand moved around frantically underneath the pillow as his eyes shot open with a slow shock.

His journal was gone.

* * *

The following morning was uneventful as he made his down to breakfast where a notable commotion was growing at his table with Yang and the rest of team RNBY spotting Roxas walking towards them. Roxas decided to ignore the vibrating in his pocket, knowing who it was and why she was calling.

"So you decided to come back did ya?" Yang cheered with a large grin, hanging her arm around the young Nobody's neck as she stood next to him.

Roxas struggled to break free as the gesture soon became a 'friendly' choke hold, Yang teased "Don't be ditching us again now! I swear I could not hear the end of it from Ruby," making a poor imitation of her sister, Yang continued " it was all 'Roxas this' and 'Roxas that' and 'Oh I hope he's okay!' sheesh, it was soooo annoying."

"Shut it Yang!" Ruby interjected as she suddenly appear at Roxas's side, pushing against her sister's arms in an effort to help Roxas out of her grip.

Finally, the Leader of team RNBY released Roxas who stumbled back from his own added momentum. After regaining his breath he said "I'll _-cough-_ I'll keep that in mind."

Yang's smile deepened as she said "But in all seriousness, it's good to see you back."

Roxas smiled back, nodding as he sat down with the rest of the table. Nora insisted that he give her a fist bump as Ren welcomed him back to Beacon. Blake was as per the usual reading a book as the rest of the table ate and Jaune... was no where to be seen. After a few more minutes the young blonde sat down at the table with dark bags under his eyes.

"When did you finally get to bed?" Pyrrha asked with concern as she peered over at his exhausted form.

"uhhh..." he responded groggily, dipping a fork down into the soup he had selected before lifting it and realizing his mistake "I think around 3 or 4?" he said uncertainly.

"Sheesh Jaune! You really need to talk to you boss about getting better hours, I mean these shifts are ganna really start affecting your health!" Ruby complained.

"Huh...?" Jaune looked at her with a tired, confused expression before his eyes lit up in realization "Oh yeah,you're probably right. I'll have to talk to him about that."

"Her." Pyrrha said.

"What?" Jaune looked at her confused.

"You told us your boss was a 'her', remember?" Pyrrha studied him with a stern look.

There was a long pause as Jaune took on an expression of what Roxas could only describe as 'panic' before he composed himself and responded with "Oh right haha, I meant my manager, he is the one who sets up our time sheets... I'll have to talk to him."

Yang smiled at him "Riiiight." before shooting Ruby a knowing wink. Ruby giggled in response as the rest of the table continued on with their own respective conversations.

* * *

Later in the day after Roxas, Ruby, Yang and Pyrrha all got done with a long game of 'War For Remnant' with Pyrrha being decided victor for the first time, they all began to make their way back to their dorms. Yang split off from the group to go find Nora after a message from Ren told her that the chaotic woman was seen in the school kitchen with pancake splatter all over her face.

Ruby, Roxas, and Pyrrha were all just outside of the door when Jaune opened it from inside wearing his full battle gear, startling the rest of his team.

"Oh!" Pyrrha said in surprise.

"Oh!... Hey guys." Jaune responded awkwardly.

"Going out?" asked Ruby tilting her head.

"Yeah," he said trying to appear reluctant "They called me in saying that they need the extra man hours. So I'm ganna get an extra shift in."

"So... you're going to work... in your battle gear?" asked Pyrrha inquisitively.

"Huh?" Jaune responded with a seemingly forced surprised response as he looked down at what he was wearing "Oh shoot!" he suddenly exclaimed " I didn't know I was still wearing this from earlier... too late to change now or else I'll be late...I know!" said as he scooted past his team and said "I have work clothes there to change into, thanks for the heads up Pyrha! You're the best!" he called out as he made his way down the hall way.

Pyrrha reached out a hand as if she had more to say before sighing and letting her arm fall limp at her side. She silently stepped into the room as Ruby followed close behind.

Roxas was about to enter his down when he hear a familiar sounding "AHEM."

Turning his head he saw a rather annoyed looking Weiss walking down the hallway towards him with arms crossed.

"Oh, hey Weiss." Roxas responded casually.

"Don't you 'Hey Weiss' me! Where have you been?" she asked with her usual demanding tone.

"Huh?" Responded Roxas in a rather dumb manner "I've been in classes."

She shot him a look that he knew wasn't good "You know sometimes I think you're as dense as a doorknob." she said flatly.

"Hey that's not very nice!" Ruby suddenly responded appearing in the door way.

If looks could kill Ruby would have dropped to the floor that second "And who might you be?" asked snidely the Ice Queen of Beacon.

"I'm... Ruby Rose... of team PRJR..." Ruby timidly responded as she too began to pick up on Weiss's cold tone.

"Well that's very nice, but I'm talking to Roxas here, and not you. So why don't you find somewhere to be that's not here?" she said with an expression that shouted 'BUG OFF'.

Ruby scowled in response, the fire in the pit of her stomach lit as she shot back "I'll be where ever I want to be. Roxas here is my friend and team mate! And if I hear him being talked down to I'm not just ganna walk away!"

Roxas could feel tensions were high as the two began to dig into each other, glaring into each others eyes and sending each other the dirtiest of looks.

Roxas stepped in between the two girls with his back facing Weiss as he turned towards Ruby "It's okay Ruby, Weiss here is a friend... maybe a rather Rude friend but a friend none the less. I can handle this."

Ruby's expression softened from anger to concern as she shifted her attention to Roxas "You sure?" she said with a hint of sadness.

He nodded reassuringly. Shooting Weiss one last dirty look, Ruby exited the doorway and shut the door behind her.

"Quite a character that one is." Weiss said with a tone that said 'What a brat'.

"She's actually the first friend I've made here. I'd appreciate if you treated her better the next time you two meet." this time it was Roxas casting her a cold glare.

Weiss appeared stunned in response as she stumbled over her words "I-she-... Okay Roxas. I'm sorry." she said appearing not used to Roxas's anger.

Roxas found himself surprised by her apology as he had expected her to retort with another annoyed expression, but found her apology solemn and honest as she said it.

Moving past the strange moment he asked "So what is it exactly that you wanted to see me over?"

Weiss returned to her usual demeanor as she said "Well Obviously we need to discuss what happened the other night. I couldn't find you at all yesterday otherwise I would have talked to you then."

"You mean... why I brought us here?"

Weiss only responded with a quiet nod.

Roxas sighed, as he said "Let's not talk here. C'mon, I know a place."

* * *

The two emerged atop of one of many structures uniting to form the school of beacon. Weiss appeared notably nervous as Roxas stepped over to the edge of the roof and took a seat on the ledge, letting his feet dangle off the side. The sun was slowly starting to set, casting a pleasant orange and red light that Roxas felt was all too familiar.

He looked over towards the nervous girl and patted the spot next to him, indicating for her to sit down.

Weiss reluctantly did so as she too let her feet dangle before Roxas began talking "I guess I do owe you some explanation. I probably owe my team more information too but... I guess I'm not ready to tell them just yet. They've known me as who I showed them I was for awhile now. If I told them everything... I don't know how they would look at me." he paused, relinquishing a deep sigh before saying "I think telling you wouldn't be so bad. You haven't known me too long so... I guess it'd be okay if you didn't accept me."

Weiss looked at him with a thoughtful expression, opening her mouth to comment before deciding to remain quiet as he continued.

"I've been running for some time now Weiss. I'm not strong enough yet to face for what lies ahead of me, and for the challenges I'll have to eventually face... the day I came here I found that out."

"The day you came to... Beacon?" Weiss asked confused, from what she saw of Roxas, the young man was a phenomenal fighter, far stronger than any of the other students she had seen during battle academy, why would attending this school make him feel weak?

He shook his head "To Remnant."

Weiss stared at him with a blank expression, one that suggested that she did not understand "What... do you mean? Do you mean when you were born?"

He shook his head "No, I only arrived here in Remnant about two months ago."

Another blank and confused expression from Weiss followed.

Roxas turned and looked out into the sunset as he said "Sorry, I'm being vague... I guess I've been vague the whole time."

"That's... okay..." she said picking her words carefully. She realized that even in these short few exchanged She had never heard Roxas speak this much, or at least, not this personally.

"I told you about the people I was running from before right? The reason I left Beacon originally?"

"Yeah I remember... You told me it was like you were protecting your friends or team I think."

He nodded "That's right. Well those people, as well as others I'm finding, are still after me."

"Is that why you had to come back?" she said with a thoughtful expression.

"Yeah... I'm pretty sure they know or will know who my team is soon, who is close to me, and how to get to me through them."

She nodded "I can understand that...So that's why you have to stay?"

He nodded "It's not fair for them to be punished for my existence, for what I was apart of before. I should be there to protect them if I can be."

"...What were you a part of before?" she asked timidly, she found that she didn't want to press too hard on this topic, but did want to know more at the same time.

"Well... those people I was talking about. Those people after me. Those people are all like me, incomplete."

"Incomplete?" she asked.

He nodded "At first, we all shared a common goal... or at least I think we did, I'm not entirely sure anymore." shaking his head of the side note he continued "We wanted to complete ourselves, to have what would make us truly people again."

He raised a hand and placed it to his chest before sighing and dropping it "This isn't ganna make sense to you." he said turning towards the girl.

"Try me." she said with an empathetic tone.

Dropping his gaze he said "We wanted to become real, to finally get our..." pausing again he finally found the words "We wanted to recover our hearts."

Returning his gaze to Weiss he studied her expression as she opened and closed her mouth searching for the right response.

In her mind she was trying to truly understand what he had meant by a 'heart', she doubted that he meant a physically, blood pumping heart,as then he would be dead, but most likely something more, something more essential to being a person that he felt he was missing.

As she was mulling over what her next few words should be Roxas followed up his statement by saying "I told you that you wouldn't get it."

Weiss nodded and said "I suppose then that you were right in that regard then.

A long silence commenced after those words, one that felt like an eternity as Weiss attempted to find the right thing to say and Roxas found that he didn't particularly want to say anymore, or at least, he didn't know if it would be a good idea to anymore.

Before she could come up with a response a loud piano ring tone sounded from her dress pocket.

Stammering, she said "Uh, oh! Sorry!" muttering under her breath something about bad timing, she retrieved the device from her pocket, staring down at the screen with a displeased expression before the look of realization washed over her face "That's... my jet..."

"You're jet?" Roxas asked.

She nodded "I told them to come pick me up today since you told me that I would understand by today and I don't plan on staying here at Beacon. Seems they've finally found the time to get here."

"Oh." Roxas said as he shifted his gaze from Weiss to the ground far below.

"And you're staying here... aren't you..." Weiss said in a quiet tone.

He nodded "I have to."

Roxas saw out of the corner of his eye a conflicted expression wash over the young teen's face before she said "Well then, I suppose that this is... goodbye huh?"  
"I guess so." Roxas said turning to face her as she rose from her spot on the ledge, carefully finding her footing as to not fall off the tall building.

She turned to look back at him and said "I hope you do well at Beacon as well as continue to do your best against those people after you. I bet you are very safe here at Beacon."

He nodded "Thanks. Hope you are able to take care of that White Fang problem."

"Thank you."

Another awkward pause.

Weiss shuffled from foot to foot before saying "Well... Goodbye then."

"Goodbye Weiss," Roxas said just before the young woman turned heel and made her way to the stairs descending back down the building.

Roxas didn't watch her go but rather listened as her footsteps clicked against the cement slowing growing farther away before he heard the large, rusted metal door to the stair well open and close behind her.

Roxas's gaze fell as his thoughts grew louder within his mind.

 _That was the first person I let know my biggest secret... and she's leaving._

 _You don't know that she's leaving because of what you told her._

 _You also don't know if she would have stayed if you told her something different._

 _Maybe I shouldn't let people know, maybe it would be bad to let people know._

 _It was smart to be vague, the organization told me to be wary of people, to not let anyone close._

 _Maybe that was true, maybe I do need to stay distant._

 _There is no point in letting people in. They don't need to know and I don't need to tell._

 _I can handle this on my own, people want to know too much to help me._

 _Once they know, they will not help me._

 _Once they know, I will be alone._

Roxas lifted his head as he heard the sound of the rusty metal door open once again and familiar sounding foot steps began making their way in his direction.

Turning his head, he saw Weiss approaching, closing the distance between them quickly before sitting down beside him once more.

"Sorry for the wait, I had to call my pilot and tell him to leave without me." Weiss said with a feint smile.

"Huh?" responded the Nobody in slight confusion.

"I've decided to remain here at Beacon academy after all." she said with a confidence Roxas was very familiar with.

Now full with questions he asked "But why? I thought you didn't like it here."

"Well," she stated in a 'matter of fact' sort of way "The main reason I had chosen to leave last time was because I thought Ozpin had chosen a no good cheater over myself, and felt that he was a fool to take the actions he did. I didn't want to stay enrolled in a school managed by such a fool."

Smiling at Roxas's furrowed brows and slightly opened mouth she continued "Now I know that 'no good cheater' is a pretty nice guy, with a very interesting back story, and I think my opinion of our headmaster and his decision making has been... reestablished I suppose you could say."

"So... you're staying at Beacon?" Roxas questioned.

She nodded "I've decided that yes, perhaps enrolling at Beacon was a good idea."

Roxas found that his thoughts from earlier had all completely vanished, in it's place was the understanding that he had just made a true friend.

 _ **Author's Note**_

 _Hahaha... I suppose that it has been multiple months since my last update hasn't it? Honestly all I can say is that I am sorry. Work has left me scrambling to readjust my schedule and it has only been recently that I have found the right opportunities to write again. I hope that I still have retained some of my loyal readers and that you haven't given up on this story quite yet as I do have plans to continue it much further. Consider this my Christmas present to all of you out there as I've made it about 2 pages longer than most of my other chapters. There was a lot of set up in this chapter and ties to what will be continuing further in the story. I will do my best to get the next chapter to you all withing 2 weeks from now on, and if I break that promise, feel free to flood me with angry PM's as to motivate me to stop being a lazy bag of bones! Lol anyway,_

 _All reviews will be responded to via PM!_


	13. Chapter 13: Number VIII

" **So, you think you can bring him back do you?** "

"I can, I know I can."

" **You wish to go alone?"**

"Yes. I don't need another."

" **Understood... You understand what must happen if you fail to retrieve him... correct?"**

"I understand. I'll do what I have to if it comes down to it."

 _"You're wasting your time, you're wasting everybody's time by chasing after that fool."_

"Well then it's a good thing we're all nobody's."

 _"Tsk. Fool, You know we should be getting rid of that trash, not chasing after him like some desperate child begging for a broken toy. "_

"Well then, I guess you've already got down our plan B if plan A fails. Hope you've got it memorized."

* * *

 _-The Emerald Forest, 1:00 PM-_

Roxas dived out of the way as a large tree was hurtled in his direction. Turning his head, he saw Ruby seemingly warp around a large boulder that struck the point where she had just been standing moments ago _._

"Ruby! Use your sniper as a distraction! Get their attention! Pyrrha! Roxas! Get behind them when she does! Take them out before they realize what's happening!" called out Jaune from the far side of the engagement.

Ruby nodded her head, shifting her Crescent Rose to its sniper form, she began a barrage of heavily powered gun shots each reaching their mark on the targets surrounded by team PRJR.

There stood five massive Ursa Grimm, each at full height easily towering over the tree line around them growling with an intense glare in their eyes. Roxas had never seen one this big before let alone five. As Ruby began to fire her rounds the Ursa subsequently started shielding their face and eyes with their massive and armored arms. They turned their attention to the small girl in red, leaving their backs turned to Jaune, Roxas, and Pyrrha.

Pyrrha took this moment of opportunity to attack one of the bear like Grimm from behind as it was too preoccupied to notice her. With a mighty pounce the teen landed atop the beast's shoulder before driving a seemingly decisive blade into the side of the creature's skull. The Grimm's growls immediately ceased as it's knees buckled and it's corpse came crashing to the ground. Rather than Ride the beast down however, Pyrrha quickly pulled out her blade and leapt to the next Ursa having to drive her blade into the creature's back this time in order to catch herself from dropping to the ground.

The beast roared in pain and anguish as it spun around wildly trying to rid itself of the young woman now being flung around it's back.

Roxas was quick to help however as he darted forward readying the Oblivion as he did so. In what looked like only a moment both of the Beast's legs had been separated from their owner just before the Grimm came tumbling down no longer able to support it's own weight.

Pyrrha finally able to regain her sense of balance, scrambled to her feet using the creature's massive back as a platform, before performing a well executed front flip that landed with her driving the sharp end of her weapon deep into the skull of the Roaring Ursa. Its cries were silenced seconds after her blade found it's mark leaving only three of the massive Grimm remaining.

The remaining beasts charged forward, barreling their way towards Ruby as she readied her next shot.

"Uh oh!" she muttered as she saw the Grimm approaching. Moving quickly, the young girl aimed the barrel of her gun at the ground firing several consecutive shots propelling her into the air. The moment Ruby was level with the Ursa's faces she aimed her Crescent Rose behind her before firing one more piecing round. Moving like a bullet the girl darted through the air, readying her scythe behind her as she passed by the throat of one of the Ursa, using the blade trailing behind her she caught the beast by the neck and with a mighty tug decapitated the roaring creature.

"WOOOOOOO!" she cheered "That was awesome!" she continued to sail through the air before a massive claw appeared just by her side.

"Gah!" she shouted in anguish as the beast flung her to the ground catching her out of the air. Skidding against the dirt and grass the young girl came to a stop as her body struck a tree.

Roxas was quick to respond as the Ursa who had stuck Ruby began to charge again towards the young girl. Appearing in front of the slowly rising form of Ruby, Roxas raised the Oblivion to his side assuming his usual stance just before the Ursa brought down a massive claw on his form. The heavy arm came to a sudden stop however as Roxas raised his weapon, using both arms he pushed back the Grimm's attack.

Roaring in frustration, the beast pressed the rest of his weight into his paw, hoping to crush the young Nobody beneath him. Just as Roxas felt the pressure begin to build on his blade he stepped to the side, pushing the claw away with a swipe of his blade.

The beast stumbled, loosing it's footing as Roxas disappeared from underneath and reappeared just above With his blade ready and above his head.

Raising it's head, the Grimm only caught a slight glance of Roxas before the Nobody descended on the creature, penetrating deep into it's skull with the Keyblade. Retracting his weapon from the Grimm, Roxas stepped off of the beast and let gravity carry him back down to where Ruby was collecting herself.

"Are you Okay?" Roxas asked the Raven haired girl.

Nodding, she said "I'm fine, it caught me off guard is all." with a cute smile she added "Thank you."

"No problem." he said with a nod of his head.

They both turned their attention back towards the last two of the Ursa which had split off to fight Jaune and Pyrrha respectively.

Pyrrha was nimbly dodging out of the way of the Grimm's thrashing attacks, slashing and stabbing into the creature with each counterstrike. Roxas could tell that she didn't need any help.

Jaune on the other hand was clearly struggling as his shield only barely managed to raise in time to stop some of the force of the massive bear arm that had stuck him. Stumbling back, Jaune let out a grunt of frustration, however, when he looked back at the Ursa in front of him Roxas was surprised to see the look of fierce determination, instead of stricken panic which Roxas had seen so many times before.

The Nobody took to a sprint trying to close the distance between he and Jaune roughly ten yards away. As he watched, Roxas was impressed to witness Jaune actually beginning to fight back, stabbing into the Grimm's legs whenever they were open and not letting any of the swings hit his body, although Roxas suspected that the shield could only be stopping so much of the force.

Just as Roxas appeared behind the Grimm he heard the beast wail out in pain before retracting a quivering, bleeding paw. Impaling the paw was a short blade, Jaune's short blade.

Looking over at the teen Roxas saw the leader beaming with pride before the Ursa recovered and using his other claw smashed into Jaune with a force that knocked the blonde off of his feet.

The piercing sound of a bullet split the air and struck the already injured paw within its wound justifying a bellowing call of pain from the massive Grimm. Roxas turned his head back toward Ruby who gave him a knowing nod.

Roxas nodded back before turning his attention back to the monster in front of him. Summoning the Oathkeeper to his other hand he leapt into the air. Crossing his arms, he placed each blade on either side of the beast's shoulders. Still recovering from the pain in its hand, the Ursa didn't notice Roxas's presence before it was too late as the nobody ripped his arms out to his sides, separating the creature's head from his body.

Roxas landed and watched as the corpse in front of him collapsed in a massive heap just before hearing a similar _THUD_ a few yards away. Turning his head Roxas saw that Pyrrha had taken care of her beast as well, ending the fight with a well placed stab into the creature's chest. Ripping her blade from the Grimm, she looked over at the team and smiled.

"We did it."

* * *

 _Beacon Academy, 2:00PM_

"Well,Well,Well, Very impressive I must admit." uttered Ms. Goodwitch as she stared down at the picture in her hand.

Within the photo contained the smiling faces of team PRJR with Ruby and Roxas on the right with Ruby wrapping an arm around Roxas's shoulders. Pyrrha and Jaune stood to the left beaming at their accomplishment with the bodies of the slowly deteriorating Grimm set behind them as proof of their deed.

"It appears I was correct in believing you four were right for this mission. These Ursa had grossly overgrown and were causing some serious problem for people in the area. It's a good thing that you handled them when you did. There's no saying just how large they could have became and how big a problem they would have been at that point."

"Pfffft, they weren't even that hard," Ruby said in a tone that said 'continue to praise me!'.

"Well that's nice to hear Ms. Rose. I'll be sure to keep that in mind for the next mission I assign to team PRJR. Keep up the good work. Now then I have some matters to attend to, so unless any of you have any questions..."

The four each shook their heads in unison.

"Then I'll be on my way. Enjoy the rest of your evening."

"Thank you!" Pyrrha responded politely before the four students exited the classroom. As they walked down the hallway the team continued to discuss their first successful mission.

"Man that was so cool! The way you rode on that Grimm's back and jumped onto the next one!"

"Oh it wasn't that impressive. The way you used your scythe to propel yourself into the air and take out that Ursa was quite the feat if I ever saw one."

Ruby beamed "Yeah, it was pretty cool wasn't it?"

Jaune chimed in "It was, well done team. Great supporting each other out there. Everyone did perfect."

Ruby turned to Jaune and said "But it was only because of your plan! Nice quick thinking!"

"Oh," Jaune scratched the back of his head only lightly blushing "It wasn't anything that impressive, just a basic distraction and attack method. Nothing more."

"Well it worked." Roxas commented "And you've been improving." Roxas said bluntly.

"Have I?" Jaune asked with undeniable curiosity.

"You really have." Pyrrha confirmed "You were holding your own for awhile against that Grimm, definite improvement."

Jaune smiled and looked down "Thank you."

The rest of the day went on without event. Ruby, Roxas and Pyrrha met up with Yang for their now usual board game war and Jaune split off from the group to take care of the job he supposedly had.

"Muhahaha! Your towers are mine Roxas!"

"..."

"Now you have no defenses against my ground troops! My tanks will tear your soldiers to shreds! Hahahaha!"

"..."

"Roxas?" asked a rather confused Ruby.

"Huh?" Responded Roxas finally looking up from his intense gaze at the board.

"You okay?" she asked in concern.

"Oh," returning his attention to the board he said "Oh, you took my towers down, well that's not good."

"No it isn't... what are you thinking about? It looked like you were day dreaming for a second." asked Pyrrha.

"Oh no, maybe I'm just tired." Roxas said scratching the back of his head awkwardly. He realized he had a card in his hand which would have stopped Ruby's attack, but his head just wasn't in the game. A few things were itching at the back of his mind and it had been bothering him ever since.

"Maybe you should get some sleep, you'll be no challenge at all if your playing drowsy." Responded and anxious Yang clearly wanting to get on with her turn.

"Yeah maybe you're right. I think I'm going to head to sleep early." he said as he rose from his seat at the table, careful not to push the chair back too loud in the otherwise quiet library.

As he walked out of the library and down the hall the thoughts plaguing him before his disruption returned with vigor. He asked himself why things had been so peaceful as of late. It had been several weeks since the incident with his lost scroll with no response from Organization VIII nor the man in the black coat.

With the thought of the missing scroll came the thought of the missing journal. He had searched under his bed and through his sheets. It was missing entirely and none of his team members had mentioned it yet leading him to believe that someone else, someone he didn't know must have taken the book. Although his recollection of what he had written in the book was vague at best, that was a lot of information that he didn't know if he wanted known public, at least not just yet.

His scroll buzzed within his pocket and he momentarily gave his raging thoughts a pause. Looking to the screen he saw a message from Weiss asking if he wanted to meet up later today.

Thinking it over for a few seconds he responded back with a no, explaining that he was tired and was going to bed early. He wanted to go back to the dorm and give it one last final thorough search through to get the notion that his journal could be possibly hiding out of his head.

He didn't want to refuse Weiss, but thought his time could be spent a little more wisely as she was most likely inviting him out for dinner again or a late night walk. She seemed to enjoy those the most. He didn't understand why, although the night breeze was quite nice in this hot time of the year.

As he made his way up the stairwell he weighed whether it was worth it to go behind his team's collective backs to properly search for his missing Journal. He knew that they would see it all wrong, an invasion of privacy and evidence that he didn't trust them. In all reality he just really wanted his journal back. If he did find it within the contents of their belongings, then that would make the search justified... wouldn't it?

He thought to himself for a short moment.

Reaching his dorm he noticed Jaune, stumbling as he pulled out his scroll to unlock the door. Walking up behind him he noticed the teen cradling him arm while lightly limping on his left side.

"Are you okay?" Roxas asked standing just behind the leader of team PRJR. Roxas swore he saw Jaune touch the ceiling from how high the boy jumped when Roxas called out behind him.

Spinning around Jaune's face took on the expression of sheer panic before almost immediately relaxing and saying in a forced casual tone "Hey Roxas, how's it going?"

"It's going fine. Why's your armor all dirty?" Smeared across Jaunes usually bright white chest plate was a dark grime of an origin unknown along with several scratches and scrapes covering his shoulders and upper chest.

"Oh this?" Jaune responded "Pfffft, that's nothing. Just something that happened while biking. You know how clumsy I can be haha, clumsy Jaune back at it again!" he said in a very cheerful demeanor.

"Did you hurt your arm in the crash?" Roxas asked. Jaune reacted by quickly dropping the cradled arm to his side, his face visibly wincing as he did so.

"I'm fine." he said in a strained voice "I...hit my funny bone is all. I just feel like a shower and I'll be all good."

"...If you say so." Roxas responded knowing that something was wrong. The teen had been covering his tracks regarding whatever he did at this new 'job' he supposedly had, and doing it poorly to boot. The two stepped into the dorm and Roxas watched as his team leader did his best to hide the limp he clearly had as he walked to the bathroom.

 _I should find out what Jaune has been up to. Clearly his job isn't doing his body any favors... if it really is a job at all... but that will have to wait for now..._

Roxas thought to himself as his eyes followed Jaune to the Bathroom door. The moment Jaune closed the door behind him was the moment that Roxas got to work searching the room. Initially he had planned to be more careful about his search, making sure to pay attention to what was where and how to put it back so that no one would notice, but Jaune being here changed that plan. He knew he had a limited amount of time before the boy returned from his shower so that meant he had to efficient with his search. He'd put back things roughly where they should be but he didn't have time to make everything exactly right. Roxas dug into Jaune's stuff first, as it was the furthest from his bed and if Jaune did step out of the shower early, he wanted to be finished searching Jaunes area at least. Aside from a strange teddy bear sweatshirt and some magazines with some scantly dressed women shoved deep beneath his underwear drawer Roxas found nothing strange about his belongings. No Journal. Next was Pyrrha. Roxas felt weird about digging into the girls clothes and items as he found many strange materials that he himself couldn't identify, but seeing as none of it was his Journal, he payed it no mind. Shortly after finishing his search in Pyrrha's dresser without a trace of his Journal he moved onto Ruby's area just next to his.

Just as he opened the first dresser full of Ruby's belongings, noticing a pair of very bright pink socks Roxas had never seen her wear he heard the dorm room door open behind him followed by footsteps. Roxas's eye's grew large before he immediately slammed the dresser shut and spun around with a panicked expression. He realized later that he probably looked a lot like Jaune did when he'd first approached him in the hallway.

"Hey Ruby! Pyrrha!" Roxas suddenly blurted out as his mind scrambled for a plan of action. _Did they see me? Should I be apologizing? Should I be playing off? What's happening?_

"Oh, hey Roxas... what are you doing with my dresser?" Ruby said tilting her head in a confused expression.

"Oh me? What do you mean?" Roxas responded doing his best to stall for time as he tried to think of a reason for him being there.

"Were... were you going through my stuff?" Ruby's voice raised, a hint of angry lacing through her words now.

"No, I wasn't going through your stuff." Roxas lied.

"Then what were you doing?" She said with a stiff frown, placing each of her hands on her hips.

"I was..." glancing down quickly at the short dresser he saw a text book resting on top.

"just grabbing this is all." he said as he lifted the book into the air, "I wanted to read up on... 'The biology of modern Grimm', I didn't think you would mind if I borrowed it. Do you?" Roxas felt a bead of sweat running down the back of his head, he couldn't explain why.

"The biology of... but you don't have that class." she giggled at him, the frustration in her voice slowly dissipating.

"Well... that's true... but um, I would still like to read it." Roxas lied. He didn't care about the biology of these creatures, the only thing he needed to know about these beasts was how to take them down.

She laughed at him, the cheerful giggle he had grown so used to "You're weird. Go right ahead. Maybe you can help me a little about it later. There's just a few things about Beowolf that I keep forgetting about and have no one to quiz me on it."

"Yeah... no problem..." he said as he quickly made his way over to his bed before opening the book and pretending to intently read the first page. Out of the corner of his eye he watched as Ruby approached the drawer he had opened earlier and opened it herself.

She scanned its contents intently before turned to Roxas and asking with a seriousness in her tone he hadn't expected "You didn't go through my stuff did you? You didn't... find anything did you?"

"No..." Roxas responded without looking up from the book he wasn't reading "Was there anything to find?"

"No!" she blurted out with a suddenness that made Roxas jump "Er, sorry, I just mean there's girly stuff in here that I wouldn't want you to see is all."

"Okay." was his only response.

There was a long pause as Ruby did nothing but stare intently into her opened drawer, Roxas watched her out of the corner of his eye as she did this. He could see that there was something going around in her head that she was trying to decide upon.

The silence was broken as Ruby said "Hey... Roxas. Do you mind if I talk to you about something?"

"Sure, What's up?" he said turning the page even though he still hadn't read a word.

"I actually came up here early, I wanted to talk to you alone about this really."

Sensing the seriousness in her tone Roxas decided to close the book for the time being before shifting his weight so that he was facing her.

"Okay... What's this about?" he asked with new found curiosity.

"Well... when you left we all tried to figure out where you could have gone you know? We were concerned for you." she said as she rubbed her arm and looked down with a solemn expression, her entire body language was that of a child confessing to breaking a lamp to their parent.

"Okay...?" Roxas responded "That's not all is it?" he would have assumed that they would have looked for him for a short time, at least for a little bit.

"No no, of course not. It's just, we didn't have much to go by so we had to figure out where you might have gone and that meant we had to-"

The bathroom door behind Roxas suddenly opened wide with a wave of hot steam spilling out. Jaune stepped out in sweat pants and a T-shirt as he dried his damp hair with a towel.

"Jaune!" Ruby suddenly blurted out with a shocked expression. Roxas stared at her noticing how much she looked like Jaune's shocked expression at that moment.

"Oh hey Ruby, you guys talking about something?" Jaune asked with only a semi interested tone as he put the towel back on the rack and shut the door behind him.

"No, well yes but not about anything special or anything of course." Ruby stammered clearly unprepared for Jaune's entry "I didn't know you were even here."

"huh? Oh yeah I was just in the shower."

"Clearly." Roxas chimed in "So then what?" he asked turning back to Ruby.

"Huh?" she responded with a blank, oblivious expression.

"What were you getting to? What did you have to do?" Roxas asked inquisitively.

Her wide eyes blinked twice before she said "I'm sorry, I think I completely forgot what I was talking about."

"Is that right." Roxas said squinting his eyes "Well if you remember. I guess run it by me."

"Will do!" she cheered before turning her attention away from Roxas to play a game on her scroll.

Roxas returned to his book.

* * *

The following school day was mostly uneventful as Roxas went through his usual classes. Ms. Goodwitch had the class collect a type of claw from a very specific type of grimm which was then utilized in a later class with Professor Oobleck which Roxas thought was efficient class scheduling.

It wasn't until after classes were over that the day began to become interesting.

The young Nobody found himself walking by himself for once, finally receiving a small break from the rest of his classmates by entering the large green patch of lawn that surrounded the exterior and rear of the school. There were no students here as the lawn in front had much more in the way of exquisite and appealing structures from the elaborately carved fountains to the white marble arches that lead their way into the school. Smooth stone tiles that made parallel perfectly straight trails throughout the school yard to walk on. The well kept grass and well made structures invited the other students to enjoy its scenery.

This patch of grass was not well kept. Each blade of grass had it's own unique length and appearance, there were rogue dandelions littering the field as well as a few dirt spots where neither grass nor weed appeared able to grow. This was not an area the other students appeared interested in, most likely because you would have to go out of your way to reach it due to there not being any actually back door leading to this field; and even then it was a lot of effort for not a lot of reward considering how beautiful it was in the front of the building.

But that's why Roxas had chosen to come here in the first place.

He needed a break.

He wanted a space where no one else was, but not so far away that he couldn't return in time if he needed to. He was still on edge about the Organization. Sure it had been some time since their last incident, but he knew that they would return.

He laid back, folding his arms behind his head as he stared up at the clouds slowly shifting and floating across the blue sky. His eyes began to slowly close and the cool, comforting breeze and warm sun began to lull him to a sense of peace.

"Didn't think I'd see ya here kid."

He knew that voice. His eyes flashing open before he whipped his head around to find the person who had just spoke.

Purple tear drops painted skin just under bright emerald eyes. Above that was fiery red hair, spiky and long running down to the tall man's shoulders.

"Axel?" Roxas said in amazement and stunning shock.

The Nobody grinned "Glad to see that you remember."

Roxas sprung to his feet, summoning his key blades to each hand as he readied himself for the battle ahead.

Axel raised his hands defensively "Whoa Whoa whoa! Jumping the gun a little bit there don't you think?"

Roxas's eye's peeled "Don't waist my time. I know the Organization sent you."

"What? A friend can't just come and visit every now and then?"

Roxas rolled his eyes.

"...Yeah... alright you got me. The organization sent me. But that doesn't mean I want to fight."

"...Then what do you want?" Roxas said looking him up and down. He bore the standard black coat all of the Organization members wore. From what he could tell, Axel appeared exactly the same from the last time he'd seen him.

Roxas tightened his grip on his blade as the Nobody in front of him reached for something behind his back.

"I want to share some sea salt ice cream with an old friend." he said as he retrieved two Popsicle sticks sheathed in a familiar white wrapper.

Roxas's couldn't hide the stunned expression that followed.

* * *

 _-10 minutes later-_

The two sat side by side on the grass slowly savoring the frozen treats. Thankfully Axel had made the wise decision to bring more than two ice creams as Roxas was already on his third.

"I thought a peace offering might make you a bit calmer." said Axel as he looked out into the tree light.

Roxas stared up into the sky as he responded "Thank you. I've missed these."

"I know. Why didn't you just go and get some? You still know how to summon a dark corridor don't you?"

"Thought it would be safer staying in a place none of you had ever explored before. If I went to Twilight town there was a chance I'd run into one of you... though I guess that doesn't really matter anymore now."

"Oh."

A long silence instilled as the two finished the last the of their Popsicles.

Axel broke the silence "You know I kept going to the clock tower. I went there every day. Always remembered to bring an extra ice cream, just in case you decided to show up."

"Oh...Sorry." was all Roxas's response as he averted his attention to the ground.

"Why did you leave Roxas?" Axel asked in a quiet tone.

"...You know why. You out of everybody... knows exactly why." Roxas responded coldly.

"Yeah... yeah I do." There was another silence pause before Roxas asked.

"What did the Organization tell you? I didn't think they'd be wanted me back after what happened with Xigbar."

"...right... I had to ask them. I told them that I would be able to bring you back."

"What'll happen when that doesn't happen?"

Axel growled under his breath "Why not? We can still take you back! It can be like old times! Me and you and...and..."

"And who?! Who else Axel is supposed to be there?" Roxas commanded as he turned to look as Axel's shocked face.

"..."

Roxas turned away, his voice returning to it's quiet tone "...It'll never be the same Axel. Even now, it's just... not the same."

"...Yeah, I guess you're right." Axel responded coldly.

The two fell silent as the sun's rays slowly started to trickle through the tree line and set behind the horizon.

"You know." Roxas said "It's sometimes a struggle to even remember her...harder sometimes to remember her name."

"...I know. I can barely remember. I don't even think I still know her name."

Roxas turned to the other Nobody "Her name... it was... Xion... I think."

"Xion..." Axel chuckled "Yeah, that sounds right. I wish I could remember more though. I doubt I could recall her face if I saw it again."

"...Yeah..."

"Roxas!" squeaked a high pitched feminine voice from around the corner.

Both Axel and Roxas turned their head in panic as sounds of footsteps began in their direction. It neared the bricked corner before Ruby's head stuck out peering over at them with determined eyes. The moment she did Axel quickly turned away, lifting his hood over his abundant amount of hair in an effort to shield his face.

"I wanted to talk to about that thing-" she cut herself off as she saw the man in black quickly rise to his feet "-Are you okay? What's going on here?!" she said with a force in her voice that told Roxas things were about to escalate.

She was quick to retrieve her scythe from behind her waist, spinning it around as it quickly took shape before digging the pointed end into the ground aiming down Axel in her sights "If you hurt Roxas I promise you will pay!" she commanded.

Roxas quickly darted between the two, raising his hands out in a panicked motion "Calm down! It's alright! He's a friend!"

"Don't worry... I was just leaving." Axel said in a stern voice as he turned his back on the two students having risen from his sitting position.

"What?... are you sure?" responded Roxas as he stared at his old friend with a serious expression.

"I am." were the only words he spoke before the Nobody lifted his hand with his palm facing the quickly forming Dark Corridor.

"I'm sorry!" Ruby suddenly said, the malice in her eyes being replaced with regret "I didn't know! You're wearing the coat so I assumed that Roxas was-"

She was silenced as Roxas lifted a hand, signaling for her to stop. The young girl stared at Roxas with sad eyes before her gaze was cast downward.

"I'm glad you came." said Roxas in a sincere tone, staring at the purple and black flames swirling around the dark portal.

"Me too." responded Axel, his back still turned.

"...What's going to happen now?" Roxas asked.

Axel sighed, placing his hands on his hips and shaking his head covered by his hood "Well, This was your last chance; I was your last chance at coming back. After this, the Organization will eliminate you."

"Do you think so?"

"Yes."

"So... are we still friends?" asked Roxas.

Axel turned around and grinned at Roxas "We're always friends dummy, got it memorized?"

Roxas grinned back before seeing Axel's expression change into a frown.

"But now..." he said turning his back to Roxas again "We're enemies too. I am number VIII of Organization XIII which means I will do what my position requires me to do." he took a single step towards the Dark Corridor before adding "The next time we meet... it will probably be the last time Roxas."

"...I know." was all Roxas could manage.

The man in the black coat took a single step into the portal before saying "You know... I can see why you remember her so well. _**She**_ does look a lot like her." Axel turned and cast Roxas a cold gaze "But she will never replace her."

The swirling blackness dissipated through the air as Axel stepped through, leaving a very stunned Ruby as well as an equally quiet Roxas.

* * *

 _Authors Note_

 _Hahaha... so what can I say about that deadline eh? Yeah I'm definitely sorry about that promise. I shouldn't have made that promise to update so soon after such a long hiatus of sorts. Looks like I wasn't quite back to my normal self, but I'm getting there. In fact, I had this chapter done last week, but I didn't originally intend for it to become it's own chapter. I am still technically writing this chapter but once I realized that the full thing was already pushing 8k words and that the important, long part had still yet to be written I made the decision to split it, both to give you readers something to read (given that I'm already so late on that deadline) and because I know that the second half of this is still ganna be pretty massive. Probably something like 15 pages if I do it justice. What this means is that unfortunately this chapter may not seem very impactful alone. If you were unimpressed by this chapter than I'm sorry but the next should be strong. Should. I'm not ganna make any promises hahaha..._

 _That being said, I am probably 1/3 of the way through the next chapter, I would say 1/2 but seeing how the story is progressing I doubt I'm really halfway lol. I'm not making any promises this time around, I'll try to update sooner than later as always, but I'm only just getting back to it and will most likely take my time. I apologize if I disappointed you._

 _All reviews will be responded to via PM!_


	14. Chapter 14: An Enemy To Cry For

_Author's Note:_

 _Huh, looks like I finally made my deadline for once doesn't it guys?_

 _Now, I don't often place an Author's note in the beginning of chapters. I feel that it can sometimes take the reader out of the story before they even begin, but this time I felt it was necessary to start out. First off, this is the largest chapter in the entire story thus far, as well as the largest chapter I think I've ever written which is why its actually a surprise to me how I managed to actually finish it within the two week period. It is easily 20 pages long by itself, well over twice the length of the standard length I put my chapters at(almost three times the length). I thought about splitting it, but decided against it as I thought it would be more powerful left intact. That being said, don't feel bad if you can't complete it all in one sitting (Although I'll be rather impressed if you did honestly). Lastly, the true reason I decided to place an author's note in the beginning is to warn my fans that this chapter takes a darker tone than that of previous chapters. I won't divulge the contents of the chapter past that, I simply felt it right to warn my viewers due to the state writing the chapter left me._

 _Please enjoy._

* * *

Ruby and Roxas didn't talk when they got back to their dorm. Quiet footsteps echoed down the hallways as they arrived at the door.

Roxas stepped in first shortly followed by Ruby as they were greeted by their other team members.

"Hello Ruby, Roxas. Did you two go and do something without us?" Pyrrha asked with a soft smile.

"No." Roxas responded before laying down on his bed.

Pyrrha and Jaune turned to each other in quiet confusion by the less than warm response.

"Is something wrong with you two?" Jaune asked being as polite as he could be.

"No." Ruby answered as she too laid on her bed.

Again Jaune and Pyrrha made eye contact with worried expressions.

"Okay, that's good. You know if something happened that you can talk to us." Pyrrha voiced.

"Thanks." Responded Roxas as he rolled over, closing his eyes for the evening.

* * *

The next day started the weekend off. Roxas found himself downstairs at the dining hall getting a rather conservative breakfast of some milk and an apple as his appetite was less than normal.

He exited the large food hall and saw Jaune crossing the outside courtyard again clad in his standard battle armor. Roxas watched him as the boy made his way through the courtyard with a determined expression written on his face. Roxas noted that Jaune refrained from going near of the entrances back into the academy and instead continued on towards the back end of Beacon.

Roxas knew that there was next to nothing back there, and it didn't look like Jaune had noticed his presence yet. The young Nobody quietly tailed the leader of team PRJR as the two stepped past the last door that would have led back to Beacon, now there were only fields of grass and large Oak trees in their path.

Seeing as crossing the large field of grass would have provided no cover for Roxas to hide from Jaune if the boy turned to look behind him; Roxas decided to dart behind the last building residing on the outskirts of the yard as Jaune quickly walked across the field and disappeared into the treeline.

Roxas stepped out from his hiding place, intent on following his team leader before he felt a hand grab his.

He immediately whipped his head around to meet a familiar pair of Silver white eyes just inches away from his.

"Ruby?" he asked with surprise. He swore she must have a tracker on him from how easily it seemed for her to find him.

"Hey Roxas. I've been looking for you." she said trying to form a smile, but coming off forced.

"Well... I'm kinda... busy..." he said looking off towards the treeline where he saw Jaune disappear to; if he moved fast he could probably pick back up on Jaune's trail before he got away.

Ruby huffed puffing out her cheeks "You're walking towards trees right now! How important can that be?" he voice sounded demanding and frustrated, as if she were offended by his statement.

"I- That's not what I was doing..." he said not taking his eyes off of the tree line, he could still faintly see the bright white colors of Jaune's armor moving further into the woods.

"Roxas please! Will you just stop and listen to me for a second?" she pleaded. The strain in her voice made Roxas look back at the girl gripping his hand tightly and noticed tears forming at the corners of her eyes.

His eyes widened in shock as he saw this "I- You're-" he swallowed, finding his words again. He sighed before saying " Alright. I'm sorry Ruby." he place his other hand on the one holding his "I'm listening."

She smiled, her eyes sparkling from the reflection the tears building in her eyes made. Wiping them away she said "Alright, can we maybe find somewhere more... private? I have something I have to tell you, but I don't want others over hearing..."

Roxas gave her a curious glance before looking at the area just around them. There were hardly any student walking about and all were well out of earshot, but Roxas decided that she wanted somewhere different.

"I think I have a place." he said as he took her hand and lead the way towards a double set of doors back into Beacon.

.

.

.

Roxas sat down along the ledge of his spot atop the roof. He watched her take a seat next to him staring down at the few students below spending their time enjoying the front yard.

"Thank you." she said quietly.

"No problem." he responded.

"First of all... I want to apologize." she said earnestly.

Roxas shook his head "What happened yesterday wasn't a big deal. You didn't know."

Ruby grew quiet for a few seconds before saying "No... not for that... I already apologized for that..."

"Huh?" Roxas responded confused.

Ruby sighed, preparing for what she had to say next "So you remember how I started to talk about us looking for you and stuff the other day?"

"Yeah... I remember. When you forgot all of a sudden when Jaune stepped out of the shower."

Ruby laughed "Well it sounds weird when you put it like that." the smile that had formed quickly dissipated as her tone returned to it's serious setting from before "Well, I didn't exactly forget. I just didn't want him or... any of the other team to hear."

"Hear what?" asked Roxas.

Ruby sighed before reaching into the school bag she had been carrying with her since she found him. Roxas had found it strange for her to be carrying it around on a weekend but didn't question it until she pulled out a notebook.

A dark leather book.

His dark leather book.

Roxas stared in disbelief as she set down his missing Journal in front of him.

He slowly picked the Journal up and stared down at it for a few seconds before looking back up towards Ruby with a stunned expression "You had it... all this time?"

"...Yes... I did, and I'm sorry Roxas." she said not daring to look him in the eyes.

"Why?"

" We had no leads, I saw it in your bedding. I thought maybe you would have written about somewhere you would have gone, somewhere we could look!" Ruby spoke fast as she tried to explain herself to the still stunned Roxas.

"Oh." he said dropping his gaze "So... that means you've read it."

Roxas was surprised to feel the girl beside him suddenly wrap him in a tight hug "I did, and I'm sorry, but I want you to know that not for a second did I think any differently of you. I don't see you any different at all. You are still my friend Roxas. You are still all of our friend Roxas no matter what that book said."

"...I am?" he asked with doubt in his voice.

"You are." She said pulling away slightly making eye contact with him.

"But I'm different." he said.

"We're all different." she said giggling "Honestly I'm surprised that you aren't more mad..."

"Should I be?" he asked tilting his head to the side.

Giggling again she said "I think so. I kinda..." she frowned "I broke your trust, invaded your privacy... that doesn't bother you?"

Roxas stared at her with a distinct look of confusion, he knew she read the journal, shouldn't she understand _why_ he wouldn't be _feeling_ the way she described?

Roxas's eyes peeled as he thought back to what exactly he had written in that book before his departure. After a few seconds his eyes flashed open in realization.

 _I didn't write about being a Nobody..._

He knew he didn't, or at least, he couldn't remember writing about it at all. He would have to do a quick recap on the contents of his journal to know specifically what Ruby had read, but for now he would refrain from telling her anything that she wouldn't already know.

"I guess it does... but... you didn't show anyone else did you?" he asked more concerned than angry now.

"No! Of course not! I would never do that!" she said sounding almost offended "...sorry, I sound angry, I should be more apologetic. It's just that, I had already broken your trust... I don't think I could ever have just started showing people your most personal secrets."

"...Oh, then that's not so bad." he said.

"It isn't?" she with hope clearly laced in her words.

"Yeah, it isn't... I mean, the only reason I didn't tell any of you that stuff is because I didn't know if you all would accept me. Since this doesn't change anything between us... I guess that's okay, right?"

"Really?" she said with a bright smile that Roxas found himself staring at. He realized he did this often.'

"Really... honestly, out of everyone, I think I would have picked you to know if I had to choose."

"R-really?... why?" she asked with an inquisitive look.

"Because you've been a good friend." he said turning to face the setting sun as it slipped under the horizon.

When he turned back he saw Ruby with a weird expression and bright red cheeks.

"What is it? Are you okay?" he asked with furrowed brows.

She shook her head smiling "I'm fine, just happy is all. You've been a good friend too Roxas."

"Really?"

"Yes."

For several minutes the two remained silent, sitting side by side as the sun set behind the school and let the bright moon take it's spot in the night sky. Soon the two were staring up at the twinkling lights that litter the sky when it is without the sun.

"I forgive you." Roxas said in a quiet tone "I can understand why you would look there. I get it." he wasn't offended, but he knew that she would make this out to be a big deal if he didn't stop it first.

"Yeah?" Ruby said with relief "You really forgive me?"

"Yeah. I do." he said with a small smile to appear sincere "I'm just glad that I have my Journal back. I was looking for it all over."

"You were?" she said tilting her head "Why didn't you run it by us?"

"I didn't think one of you had it...or if you did have it, would keep it." he said with a shrug.

"Oh," Ruby said with a frown "Yeah I guess that makes more sense."

There was a long pause between the two before Ruby broke it "So... Roxas, do you mind If I ask you a question?"

Roxas froze up, slowly, he decided to nod his head.

"What's it like on Alien planets? She said with a gleam in her puppy dog eyes.

Roxas turned towards the girl with an expression of bewilderment "What... what are you talking about?"

"You talked about going to other worlds and stuff... right?"

"...Oh. Ohhhh." he said as he understood what she was saying.

"So what are you? I mean I know you look human and all, but what are you really?" she said with major interest resting in her voice.

"I'm human... as far as I know at least." he said scratching his head.

"You are? That a surprise. So what do aliens look like then if you've been around the universe?"

"I- uh, it's not really... like that honestly." he said shrugging "most of the places I've visited are more like...well not too different from this world."

"Really?" she asked curiously "Huh, that's odd." she crossed her arms and looked down at the ground bellow "I've always wondered what was up there, that's kinda disappointing if it's pretty much like Remnant."

"Well I don't think I'm explaining it right. Or maybe it _is_ disappointing. I don't know..."

Roxas looked over at Ruby and saw her puzzled face working through whatever thoughts on his worldly travels were going through her head.

"I did see a genie though."

"What?" she looked up at him in shock "You did?"

"Yeah, he was really weird. A magic carpet too."

"Really? What made it magic?"

"It flew."

Ruby scoffed "Now I know your playing with me, carpets don't fly."

"This one did."

"Uhuh, sure it did." she said rolling her eyes "so what else have you seen space man?"

"Well..."

* * *

The sun began to set as their conversation came to its end. Ruby thanked him for being so understanding and not chewing her head off over the Journal before giving him a quick hug and excusing herself to get ready. Apparently she and Yang were planning to have a sister's night out away from the school for once.

They said their goodbyes and went their separate ways, leaving Roxas to return to the dorm room where he found no one waiting for him. He began to settle in and get ready to review what he had actually written in the journal, before coming to a realization.

Looking over to Jaunes empty bed he thought

 _If he's not here... there's a chance that he's still out there in the forest..._

Roxas quickly made his way back to the spot Ruby had found him in where he lingered behind the building, occasionally peeking out at the treeline where he had seen Jaune disappear to. After what felt like an eternity he heard a rustling in the bushes that had him turning his head.

Jaune emerged from the underbrush looking rather worse than wear as along his upper bicep ran a long claw mark. His breathing was labored and his movements sluggish as he approached the campus. Roxas could make out the dried bits of mud and dirt coating his skin and hair while sweat came in beads running down his neck.

As Jaune came closer Roxas decided to step out from behind the building, making himself visible to the exhausted teen in front of him. Jaune's form froze as his eyes met Roxas's

"H-hey Roxas."

"Hey Jaune. So, whatcha been up to?" Roxas asked casually with his arms crossed.

"I-I-" Jaune's shoulders slumped as he breathed a sigh of defeat "I've been training."

Roxas shot him a curious look "Is that a bad thing?"

"No but... it's just that, I didn't want you guys to know. I didn't want everyone to know that I was putting in twice the effort and still couldn't compare to any of you in a fight." he said scratching the back his head "It's kind of embarrassing you know?"

"I guess...?" Roxas responded not entirely getting it.

Roxas could seen a small trickle of blood running down Jaune torn pant leg. His eyes hadn't seen it before due to the darkness but now that he saw it the gash appear very painful.

"The Beowulf was a lot stronger this time..." Jaune admitted with a grimace "He and a buddy broke my aura and before I knew it I was being clawed up."

"That's not a safe way to train Jaune," Roxas said as he came closer, inspecting the leg.

"Well I don't always train this way... it's more just a way to test myself... to see if I've improved any you know?"

Roxas shrugged "I guess," although in the back of his mind he knew that he had been doing the exact same thing during his time away. Roxas thought this was what they call 'Irony' although he wasn't sure.

"Here, I think I can help." he said as he hovered his hand over the wound.

"What are you-"

"Curaga." Roxas uttered as he concentrated; glowing green symbols appeared in patterns directly above the cut. In mere moments the skin mended itself completely.

"W-what?" Jaune responded in shock staring down at his healed appendage.

"There, that should be good."

"How in the world did you do that?" Jaune asked in both amazement and complete and utter shock.

Roxas shrugged "Just a thing I picked up from my time before Beacon I guess."

Jaune looked down at his leg, turning it right and left with a satisfied smile stretching ear to ear.

"That was absolutely amazing Roxas!" he said with gratitude before a seriousness washed over his expression.

Jaune remained silent for several seconds staring at his calf in deep contemplation.

"Roxas?" he asked in a cold tone.

"Yes?"

"Will you fight me?" he asked staring the nobody dead in the eye. Roxas could see fierce determination behind those eyes staring back at him.

"What?" he asked surprised "Why do you want that?" Roxas responded confused.

Jaune raised his blade, readying it behind him as he rose his shield in front of his body in a guarded position.

"I want to fight you Roxas. I want to know... just how far I have to go."

"...Jaune I don't want to fight you." Roxas responded sternly.

"Fight me Roxas. We all know that you're the strongest member of our team. Maybe Pyrrha comes close, but I need to know what I need to learn in order to be stronger."

"I-" Roxas stopped himself as he realized what Jaune was asking him. The teen in front of him was asking of Roxas the same request he had been since their field trip to collect the tree sap.

 _He wants me to teach him... he wants to learn how to fight like I do._

Roxas nodded as he finally understood. Summoning his Keyblade, the Oblivion, he widened his stance before letting the blade coming to his side in a ready position.

He could see Jaune studying his stance and position with a focused expression.

Neither opponent moved an inch for the better part of a minute before Jaune shifted his weight to his back foot, propelling himself forward as he shoved the foot back. Roaring, Jaune charged Roxas with his blade held high. Roxas remained unmoving as the boy approached, at the last second he stepped out of the way of the blade as it came down where he had been standing just a moment ago. Jaune seemed to have predicted Roxas's sidestep as he raised his shield and collided it's backside into Roxas's form.

Surprised, Roxas stumbled back a few steps as Jaune raised his sword which had split the ground from his efforts. He charged Roxas a second time who decided to meet him in his pursuit. Diving low, Roxas was easily able to avoid Jaune's lunge as he adjusted his footing underneath Jaune's outstretched arm. Taking a step forward, Roxas eyed Jaune's grip on his blade before in a flash slashing his weapon into Jaune's arm. With a crack the weapon broke free from Jaune's hand and was sent spinning away before sinking itself into the wet ground below their feet.

Jaune called out in pain as he recoiled, dropping his shield and holding his wrist where Roxas had struck him.

"Owwwww!" he said in an annoyed tone "Sheesh Roxas did you have to hit so hard?" he grimaced as he rubbed the quickly bruising arm.

Roxas shrugged as the Oblivion disappeared in a flash of light "You said you wanted to fight me. I didn't think you wanted me to go easy on you."

Jaune paused in his effort to console his arm and smiled at Roxas "I suppose you're right. I didn't want you to go easy on me. Thank you Roxas."

"No problem." Roxas said scratching the back of his head.

"Care for a rematch some time?" Jaune asked with a grin.

Roxas returned the look, understanding exactly what he was being asked for "Sure thing."

The two grinned at each other for a short time before Jaune broke the eye contact grimacing in pain from his arm.

"Hey Roxas... do you think you could do that weird glowy thing on my arm maybe?" he asked between clenched teeth.

"Oh! Um, I can try, here come here..."

"Huh, you know, I was supposed to be here to chat with Roxas. Weird when I get here and you're already chatting it up with someone else."

Roxas froze as the voice hit his ears. Turning, he saw a very familiar face looking down from atop a tree branch.

"Demyx. I didn't think I'd see you of all people." Roxas responded coldly as he stared into the emerald eyes of the Nobody ahead of him. His dirty blonde hair rose in it's regular mullet fashion with few seemingly random bangs falling over his face. He bore an expressive smile, one not unlike that of a person seeing a friend after a really long time.

"Roxas!" he called out, his Sitar in his lap " Long time no see!"

"Roxas... who is this guy?" Jaune asked eying Demyx with suspicion.

Roxas responded under his breath "No one good." before calling out to the other Nobody "What is it that you want Demyx!"

"Well," he responded looking down to adjust a few strings on the blue instrument "Axel told me that he paid you a personal visit, and told me he thought it would be a good idea for me to do the same."

"Is that what he said?" Roxas responded as the space between his hands flashed, summoning the Oblivion and Oathkeeper to each hand.

"Well..." he said as he made his final adjustment to the sitar before looking back towards Roxas "Maybe he used other words, but that was the gist of it." Looking down he saw that Roxas had his Keyblades in hand "Oh come on man there's no need for that."

"I doubt that." Roxas said adjusting his stance as he prepared for what he saw coming next. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jaune pick up his sword and shield and also enter his ready stance.

"No seriously I don't want to fight man. You know how much I hate fighting in general. I would really just prefer if we talk for awhile you know?"

Roxas shot him a confused look "Talk? Why?"

Demyx laughed "It's been like, forever since I've seen you man! How have things been outside of the Organization? I heard you've been in school or something like that. How has that been huh? I bet it's been a drag." he said rolling his eyes at the very concept of school.

"I doubt that learning about my classes is what you're after. Why are you here Demyx?" Roxas responded not daring to take his eyes off the Nobody sitting lazily in the tree.

Demyx sighed, visibly slumping his shoulders as he said "Man, when did you get so mean Roxas? I always remember us being friendly to one and other."

"Yeah but that was-" Roxas was cut off as his scroll began ringing within his pocket.

He looked down at his vibrating scroll for only a brief moment before returning his gaze towards Demyx, but what he saw surprised him. When he looked up, Demyx was still sitting in the tree, but his demeanor had tensed up. Roxas could see that the Nobody was nervously looking down at the still ringing device in Roxas's pocket, eyes wide and a frown forming from his lips. As Roxas returned his attention to Demyx however he noticed the older Nobody flash a nervous smile in an attempt to hide his reaction.

"Oh Good, it's rude to answer calls when you're talking to someone. It's great that you at least have manners, I thought you were going to- hey wait!" Demyx called out as Roxas immediately reached into his pocket watching Demyx's reaction as he did so. The Nobody appeared panicked as Roxas retrieved the scroll, even going as far as to outstretch his hand signaling him to stop.

"You really shouldn't answer that." he said in a nervous tone.

Roxas peeled his eyes before tearing them away from Demyx to look at the screen. It was Ruby calling.

 _Why would he be trying to stop me from answering a call from-_

Roxas's eyes became saucers as he felt a cold chill run up his spine. He quickly pressed the button to answer the call allowing the video to form.

Ruby's face appeared on screen looking haggard and dirtied. Roxas could see large flames rising in the background and sweat falling down Ruby's cheek. The moment her image formed on the screen Roxas watched hope fill the girl's eyes as she called out "Roxas!"in between coughing. He could hear what sounded like guns shots in the background and the shouts of... was that Yang?

"Ruby!?" he called back with an urgency in his voice he hadn't known was there "What's happening? Where are you?"

"We're near the movies! The man in the coat he-" the video suddenly was disrupted as a large jet of water collided with the device ripping it out of Roxas's hands.

"No!" Roxas called out as he dived to catch the scroll. The device struck the ground with a crack that immediately shattered the screen into several pieces.

Roxas reached down in a feeble attempt to reassemble the scroll as Demyz said in a cold tone "I told you that you shouldn't have answered that."

"What's going on?! Was that Ruby?" Jaune asked panic rising in his voice.

Roxas growled as he stood; giving up on trying to fix the broken scroll.

"She's in trouble. I need to go." he said in a strained voice.

"Oh you're not going anywhere Roxas." Demyx said in a sinister tone. Jaune turned his head back and forth watching as water began to surged to the surface of the dirt, rising and taking shape as twelve or so figures lifted themselves from the now mug forming a perfect circle around Jaune and Roxas.

"Uhhh Roxas, what are these?" Jaune said nervously "We're surrounded by them." he said tapping his friend's shoulder.

As Jaune continued to turn his head to look at each creature forming from the water Roxas refused to turn his attention away from Demyx, casting a cold glare as the Nobody continued to strum his Sitar.

"You were here to keep me distracted."

Demyx nodded "Bingo buddy, I was hoping that we could have just had a nice chat, but now it's clear that isn't ganna happen so-" Demyx's sentence was suddenly cut off by a flash of light before he felt the cold blade of the Oathkeeper pressing against his chest sending him crashing down from the tree.

Demyx grimaced as he lifted himself from the ground. When he looked up he saw Roxas standing atop the tree with both keyblades tightly gripped in his hands. The older Nobody stared in shock at the teen, he hadn't even seen him move, how had he struck him so quickly?

"Jeez man, that was cheap shot." Demyx rose to his feet and noticed that it almost looked that Roxas was... glowing?"

"I don't have time to waste talking. I have to finish you and then get to Ruby." Roxas said as he dropped from the tree. The moment his foot touched the ground was the moment he seemingly disappeared in a blinding flash of light. Demyx only saw the boy reappear directly beside him readying both keyblades in unison for a horizontal slash towards his torso; Demyx could see that his Keyblades were seemingly extended by what looked like beams of light that stretched out four or five feet making it impossible for him to dodge.

Demyx gasped as both blades struck him directly in the chest, sending him flying further than he had been sent from the tree. The force of the impact sent the lazy Nobody rolling several times before eventually coming to a stop in the dirt.

Panic stricken, Demyx leapt to his feat before strumming several cords on his instrument. Three water jets erupted from the ground each targeting Roxas as they pierced through the ground. Roxas moved between the columns with such speed that Demyx was convinced he hadn't even noticed them before colliding his blades once again with Demyx's body. This time he had brought them down like a pair of axes creating a sickening crack as they met with Demyx's skull. The Nobody went limp as he crumpled to the ground. The creatures of water surrounding Jaune each fell apart the moment the blow was made, splashing to the ground until nothing but puddles remained.

Roxas stared down at the now unconscious member of the Organization for a brief few moments, confirming that he was truly unconscious and not just pulling a rouse. Satisfied with his analysis, he raised a palm and erupted the dark flames of the corridor of darkness. He remembered the movie theater, setting his destination to be there.

"Wait for me!" called Jaune as he ran over to Roxas, he stared at the flames with a curious look "What's that?"

Roxas held a serious tone in his voice as he said "I don't have time to explain. I need to get to Ruby. He," Roxas said pointing at the unconscious form of Demyx "Was just a distraction, Ruby and Yang were the real targets."

"I'm coming with you then." Jaune said with fierce determination in his eyes.

Roxas growled "No. You'll be in the way."

"Yes. I can help!" he said with a stubborn tone.

Roxas was growing impatient with Jaune "This isn't like the Grimm we fought. These people are on a whole other level."

"I don't care!" Jaune cried out "Their my friends too! If they're in danger then I should be doing all I can to help!"

Roxas lost his temper as he roared back "We don't have time for this! Every second we argue may be the last second our friends have fighting off Organization XIII!"

Jaune's words choked up within his throat before he looked down at the ground in defeat, his grip on his blade and shield tightening in his hands.

"Fine." he said in anger. Roxas could see a tear beginning to make it's way down his cheek as he stared at the ground.

Roxas turned to the portal and said "Get Ozpin, tell him what is going on and that Demyx is here."

With that, he stepped through the portal.

* * *

Roxas appeared in front of the Theater and immediately heard panicked screams in the distance. As he turned his head he could see the night sky brightly lit by an array or bright orange and yellow flames licking at the sky from several blocks down. Roxas gritted his teeth as he broke out in a sprint in the direction of the flames. As he ran he saw several scared and panicked people running the opposite way, away from the flames. Some were covered in soot and ash with wide eyes and shocked expressions. Others were sitting on the curb, crying with their knees pressed to their chest or calling out for people that Roxas suspected would not be answering back.

As he passed these people he could hear them talk amongst themselves "The-the flames, they all spread so fast."

"My house, it... was completely engulfed in what felt like seconds."

"Where's dad?"

The last voice he heard made him stop for the briefest second. He turned and looked to see a small child looking up at a woman who was clearly doing her best not to cry as she scooped up her child in her arms.

Roxas gripped his weapons so tightly that his fingernail started to produce blood from his palms before turning his attention back to the flames quickly spreading down the street towards him.

Roxas moved faster than he thought his feet could carry him as he shot like a bullet through the flames. As he ran down the street it looked that the entire world had been set on fire. Almost every structure was completely engulfed, several homes had already collapsed scattering bits of wood across the stone road creating a hellish scene as the road was literally littered with flame.

Roxas ran down the road at break neck speeds, not allowing any fallen structure nor burning flames halt him as he began to hear the feint sounds of shotgun shots in the distance. Making a turn he could hear the shots more clearly now as well as yelling. The cries of battle sounded from what seemed like only a block or two away, but still out of view. Roxas followed his ears but came to a grinding halt as he heard a different voice call out for help. Turning to look, he could hear the voice of a panic stricken man behind what appeared to be a set of double steel doors. The building he called from was caught in flame, but still barely standing somehow.

Roxas quickly rushed to the door and tried the knob before retracting his hand with a yelp. The metal was heated to the point that merely brushing his hand against it resulted in a burn. Roxas concluded that was probably what was trapping the man on the other side.

Hearing Roxas call out in pain the man on the other side called out "Is someone there? Hello!? Please help me! Oh God I don't want to die!"

"I'll get you out of there! One second!" Roxas called back thinking. A moment later he called out "Stand back from the doors!"

Hearing the man shuffle back Roxas raised both keyblades and shouted " Blizzara!" the ice projectile collided with the hot metal and produced an erupt explosion from the sudden contact of such drastic temperatures. The doors exploded inward, granting the man on the other side his exit.

The man came near sprinting out of the doors and towards Roxas "Thank you! Thank you so much!" he said with tears building in his eyes as he looked towards Roxas.

Roxas was taken aback by such a sincere look of gratitude before saying "You're welcome... now get out of here."

The man turned to leave before Roxas halted him "Wait... here, go through this."

The flames leading back to where it was safe was had most likely spread even further at this point making the trek back that much more dangerous. Roxas couldn't be sure that the man in front of him would make it in his condition. His face was relatively unscathed revealing a relatively young man although still Roxas's elder. His haired was rough and short as well as dark brown with panicked blue eyes resting underneath. But it was clear that his arms and hands had suffered several burned from the way he was cradling them and it looked to Roxas that his legs must have suffered injuries as well from the way he was limping as he stepped.

"What... is that?" the man stared on frightened. In front of his Roxas had summoned a Corridor of Darkness leading to just outside the movie theater, a long distance from where the fire could have spread to.

"It's a portal, go through."

"Portal? What? Are you crazy?! That looks that black flames to me! I don't want to be burned any more!" he cried out in anguish.

"*sigh*" Roxas exclaimed before he roughly shoved the man through. He heard the man cry out in surprise before passing through and vanishing. Roxas allowed the darkness to dissipate before returning to his previous pursuit.

He rounded the corner, mentally concerning himself with the houses around him.

 _I wonder if there are any more people trapped inside... I wonder if there are any who never made it out._

Roxas knew that he didn't have the time to inspect each house to see if there were those who needed help. He needed to make it to Ruby.

Passing each house, he knew that they used to reside people in them. These used to be homes. He knew that they each held their own story of panic and escape.

Or of someone realizing too late what was happening, of someone meeting their end.

Roxas did his best to rid the thought from his mind as he rounded the final corner to where he could hear the fight clearest, and was met with a sight he had been afraid of.

Standing in the center of a flame seemingly being fueled by nothing and enclosing around her was Yang. Tears ran down her cheeks as she fired shot after shot from her shot gauntlets aiming each round at the flames around her. The fire was a perfect circle, confining Yang to a space not larger that that of a school bus in length. The flames rose and waned erratically, making it hard to see Yang clearly, but from what he could make out, the blonde had seen better days. Her cheeks and arms were littered with short cuts as well as bruises that appeared painful to even look at.

Roxas concluded that her aura must have depleted awhile ago, but that didn't look like it was stopping such a force.

The young blonde was roaring ferociously as he fired off round after round into the flames, he eyes were lit a bright red as the tears trickled down from them. As Roxas came sprinting towards the girl he saw her raise her arm just in time to deflect what appeared to be... a chakram.

Roxas had known who was responsible for this devastation, who would be behind all of this flame; but seeing the familiar red and sliver Chakram erupt from the flames only to be deflected back by Yang was the nail in the coffin.

"AXEL!" Roxas roared as he darted towards the conflict. The flames surrounding Yang appeared to freeze in response to Roxas's voice. In an instant the flames dispersed and Axel's form became clear. His back was turned to Roxas before he turned and shot Roxas a nervous grin, one that told Roxas he hadn't been expected "Jeez, can Demyx not get one thing right?...Hey buddy...what are you up to?"

When the flames surrounding Yang finally dispersed Roxas saw something he hadn't been able to see before. The fire had completely hidden what lied below Yang's midsection, making the scene before him impossible to view behind the fire.

Lying crumpled on the ground, was the limp and unmoving form of Ruby. Her weapon, the Crimson Rose, lay scattered on the stone beside her; her head rested on the hard stone with her eyes closed and a trickle of blood running down the side of her face pooling beneath her head.

"No..." Roxas said with wide eyes. The world around him became fuzzy and unclear as he stared at Ruby. His body trembled in response and his tongue became dry in his mouth. He could barely sense the feeling in his hands as the grip on his weapons tightened.

Axel saw his expression and turned to look at Ruby himself before immediately returning his attention back to Roxas "It was an accident, I promise it's not as bad as-"

The Nobody's words were interrupted as a golden fist indented itself into Axel's cheek. The look in Yang's eyes were wild as she followed the first strike up with a second that connected with Axel's chin with a painful crack. Axel staggered back, visibly dazed by the two hits, but not being the type to let up, the next fist met Axel's stomach before a powerful boom echoed down the street. The shotgun blast sent Axel flying back and skidding against the ground several yards before he came to an erupt stop against a light pole.

"YOU'RE DEAD!" Roared Yang as she stomped towards Axel's slowly rising form.

The Nobody rubbed his back where it had met the light pole as he muttered "Jeez, didn't know you packed such a punch."

Yang closed the distance between them before swinging another haymaker at Axel's face. This time however, the Nobody was ready as he nimbly positioned himself underneath the strike before summoning his Chakrams to either hand.

"Now let's show you what I'm packing little girl." he said sinisterly as he swung at Yang's midsection, but the blow never connected. Instead Axel was shocked to see a familiar looking white keyblade blocking his Chakram mere inches away from Yang's exposed stomach. Axel turned his head to the left and saw Roxas kneeling in a position that allowed him just enough room to position his keyblade directly in front of Yang. Staring at Roxas, Axel looked back at such a deep and unnerving glare that the elder Nobody felt a shiver run up his spine.

Before he had time to react, Axel felt a devastating punch collide with the side of his face and send him clattering to the ground. Axel groaned in pain before quickly picking up his feet and rolling backward just before two shotgun rounds blasted away the pavement where he had been mere moments before.

Axel was on his feet again and looked back and forth between the enraged form of Yang and the deadly glare Roxas was shooting him.

"Hahaha, if looks could kill I bet I would have lost this fight a looong time ago." he said with a nervous laugh.

Yang only growled at his quip "Shut. Your. Mouth." she spoke with a dangerous tone, lacing each words with pure hatred.

Roxas's gaze dropped allowing his hair to cover his face "Yang... is Ruby...?"

Yang was suddenly snapped out of her rage from Roxas's words. She pulled her attention away from Axel to look over towards Ruby's still unconscious form "I, I don't think so... I think she's still..."

Roxas interrupted her "If she's still breathing... she needs to get help as soon as possible."

Yang nodded "Right..."

Roxas lifted his hand towards Ruby's crumpled body erupting a Dark Corridor beside her limp form "This will take you to Beacon. Get her help."

Yang stared at the swirling flames with a transfixed look, muttering under her breath she said "That's the same thing that guy stepped out of..."

"It's a portal, now go." he turned his attention towards Axel as he continued his sentence "And if you even try to stop them..." he raised his Oblivion, pointing it at the Nobody's chest "I'll do more than just stop you."

Axel raised his hands in surrender "Fine, look I won't stop them."

Yang suddenly shot Roxas a shocked look "You don't plan on letting him go do you!? After what he's done?"

Roxas gave her a dark look "No." he said sternly.

Yang opened her mouth to respond before deciding to close it. She nodded her head before quickly making her way over to her sister. Scooping her up in her arms she winced from the effort, but none the less Ruby rested in her sisters arms comfortably as Yang approached the portal.

Looking back towards Roxas she said "Give him hell for me Roxas."

The Nobody only nodded in response before she stepped through the Darkness and vanished. Roxas watched the last glimpses of Ruby's face as she entered the darkness dissapearing along with her sister. As she went, his mind suddenly recalled the last time he had seen Xion close her eyes, the final moments he had been able to look her in the eye and know she was there. Roxas silently asked himself, if this would be the last time he would see Ruby again.

Several quiet seconds passed before Axel spoke "So... is this the part where we fight?"

"Why?" Roxas asked in a strained tone. His question clearly ignoring Axel's comment.

"Why...why what buddy?" Axel responded in a sarcastic tone.

"You know exactly what I'm asking." Roxas hissed.

Axel sighed, his coy expression vanishing and in its place resting a conflicted look "I do. You want to know why I attacked her. Them I guess."

"Yes. And."

"And?"

Roxas motioned to the scene around them, the blazing inferno rapidly consuming each and every home in sight "This!" he scowled at Axel "I know you. You are more than capable of controlling your flames. There's no way that this fire would have started unless you wanted it to."

"Oh, that." Axel said shrugging "Honestly this was the first time I've ever seen her outside her school. Of course that still left the problem of having all these people around watching. So I started a little fire to clear out the area. I was just trying to get my target as isolated as possible."

"So... the fire was just a way to get to Ruby?" Roxas said between gritted teeth.

"Oh, so that's her name. Cute. Yeah, I mean everyone ran away so it worked." He said casually.

Roxas shook his head "Not everyone."

"Oh." Axel responded with another shrug"Well that's too bad. I didn't think-"

"That's too bad?! Is that all you have to say for yourself!?" Roxas responded with his voice raised and agitated.

Axel's eyes widened as he stared at Roxas in bewilderment "What? Why are you acting like this?" he said tilting his head to the side.

"Why were you after Ruby!?" Roxas snapped.

"I-" Axel paused, taking his time to find an answer as he stared on at Roxas. He had never seen his friend like this before"I thought, if I captured her and brought her back to the castle, that would force you to come back. I thought that maybe she was the reason you decided to stay."

Roxas stared at him with a gaped mouth before starting "Wh-"

Already knowing his question, Axel answered "Because I know how far you went to bring Xion back."

Roxas stopped himself. He took a deep breath, one that took several seconds for him to release as he closed his eyes. When he opened them his gaze landed on Axel with a determined fire.

"You're right." he said "I wanted to protect my friend. And I'll keep doing that, I will protect my friends."

"I thought I was your friend." Axel said with a hurt tone.

"I thought so too."

Axel visibly recoiled from the comment before scowling. His raised his hands outwards summoning his Chakrams to each hand before saying "Fine then! I guess if we aren't friends anymore then we're enemies!"

"We were enemies the moment you attacked Ruby."

Axel had no more to say as he began his approach towards Roxas. He started with a steady stride before transitioning into an all out sprint towards the teen. Roxas readied himself as Axel swung a Chakram from several yards away. Roxas narrowly avoided the rapidly spinning piece of sharp metal by sidestepping to the left, allowing it to sail past him. The younger Nobody had only taken his eyes off of Axel for the brief second it had taken to dodge his attack, but when Roxas looked back up, his former friend was gone.

Realizing his mistake, Roxas quickly whipped around to meet a massive flame that exploded against his chest. The young Nobody was sent hurtling back but by performing a well timed roll managed to land on his feet. Just as he had gotten his barrings straight he found two rapidly spinning Chakrams approaching him less than three feet away. Roxas only barely managed to deflect the two attacks with each Keyblade before his eyes did their best to track where each Chakram was landing. The first ricocheted back to Axel's hand where the other shot off to the side. Roxas watched this one and his suspicions rang true as Axel suddenly warped in front of the disk catching it in his free hand.

Roxas had remembered Axel performing this technique in their missions together and was more than ready when Axel sent a small barrage of flaming orbs his way. Roxas managed to dive out of the way of the first one before knocking away the next two with either keyblade. The resulting explosions sent debris clattering across the stone road and a deafening boom that told Roxas that Axel was very serious. Three more flaming orbs approached the young Nobody at a rapid rate leaving Roxas only just enough time to raise the Oath keeper towards the night sky and call out "Aeroga!"

In an instant the air around Roxas whipped about in a rapid tornado-like current that immediately pulled in the three orbs as they made contact. The flames whipped about Roxas harmlessly before he aimed the Oathkeeper towards Axel's surprised form. The winds died down in that instant and Axel's attack was sent hurting after him moving twice as fast as before.

Axel only barely had time enough to utter under his breath "What the he-" before three rapid explosions engulfed him where he stood.

Roxas stood still as he inspected the damage. In a few moments, the flames from his attack died down revealing a very annoyed looking Axel.

The glare he sent Roxas mirrored his own.

"Did you really think you could hurt me with my own attack?" he asked in an agitated tone.

"Maybe not, but it sure felt good to do it." Roxas responded entering his spread out, dual wielding stance.

Axel growled before leaping into the air and sending both of his Chakrams hurtling towards Roxas's unmoving form.

"That isn't going to work on me!" The blonde called out before raising his keyblades above his head and bringing them both down with a force that swatted the Chakrams out of the air. The two metallic weapons came clattering at his feet before a very surprised looking Axel warped into view; kneeling as to pick up his weapons. Axel looked up at Roxas with a sheepish grin as the keyblade wielder reared back his weapons.

In a matter of only a few seconds Roxas tore into his opponent with a whirlwind of blinding slashes from each Keyblade. Each blow hit its mark as his weapons forced Axel's body to contort and bend around his wild but precise swings. Finally, Roxas ended the barrage of blows by driving the hilt of his Oathkeeper into Axel's stomach forcing the man to double over in pain before reeling back and arching both of his Keyblades upward catching Axel's outstretched head and sending him flipping into the air.

"Aero!" Roxas called out pointing his Oathkeeper at Axel who was still air born. The spell struck, sending the already battered Nobody spiraling across the sky before colliding with a still burning structure twenty feet back.

The man met the ground with a less than elegant ' _Thud'_ as he collapsed in a heap. It was several seconds before Axel groaned and slowly started to push himself up off the ground. Rubbing the part of his face where Roxas's final blow had struck him, he called out "Sheesh when did you learn how to do all that?"

Roxas grinned confidently "I picked up a few things while I was away."

"Yeah, like a second Keyblade apparently." Axel responded as he rubbed the point of his back that had directly collided with the wall. Although each and every attack had found their mark, Roxas failed to find even a single scratch on Axel. Roxas understood that his 'aura' as Beacon put it had protected him, but he had hoped that his combo would have been enough to at least drain it away some.

"If only I were so lucky..." Roxas murmured under his breath as he decided to go on the offensive. He appreciated understanding why in all his missions with other Organization members he had never seen any physical damage sustained when they had not been careful around a particularly dangerous heartless. Understanding how 'auras' worked finally cleared up that question.

Roxas came sprinting towards Axel crossing his arms as he readied his two weapons on either side of his body before leaping over a large piece of flaming debris standing in the way of he and his opponent. Roxas descended on Axel rapidly before spreading his arms apart with a massive force, hoping to catch Axel in the middle of the two Keyblades.

To his surprise, Axel managed to raise his Chakram's in time to either side, halting Roxas's attack mid swings. The elder Nobody shot him a dark glare before stepping forward, with the two still locked in this strained position Axel's movement forced Roxas's arms to pin crossed against his chest. Axel positioned his lips to Roxas's ear before saying sinisterly "You're turn to fly, 'pal'."

Shoving hard, Axel sent Roxas stumbling back before raising his arms and generating two massive swirling balls of flames in each hand. Axel's warning came true as he threw each beach ball sized orb at Roxas's still staggering form. Not having enough time or space to avoid the attack, Roxas was forced to make an X with his weapons and grimace as the twin Orbs made impact as his feet.

The resulting explosions completely engulfed Roxas before sending him flying like a bullet up and out of the bubble of erupting flame. Roxas did his best ignore the pain spreading out across his body, telling himself that his aura had protected him from the brute of the damage as he tried to re-orient himself midair. His eyes snapped open as a Chakram whizzed through the air and collided with his Oblivion which he had only managed to position a split second earlier.

The still spinning Chakram grinded against Roxas's Keyblade like a chainsaw against metal before Axel's form warped into existence directly in front of Roxas. Grabbing hold of his rotating weapon with one arm he brought down his second Chakram with the other in an arch. Roxas attempted to raise his OathKeeper in time but was just a split second too late as the cold steel met with the side of his head. The resulting 'CRACK' sent Roxas hurtling to the ground where he bounced against the stone before coming to a slow stop.

It was his turn this time to groan in pain as he rolled over to face the night sky. Roxas knew that his former friend was a force to be reckoned with, but still, the pain he was feeling across his body was not something he had been exprecting. The young Nobody rose to his feet before shooting a dangerous look across the road at Axel's smug expression.

"What's wrong buddy?" he mocked "Did ya think I would be going down easily?"

Roxas growled in frustration before lifting his OathKeeper once again to the night sky and announcing "Thunder!" a bolt of electricity immediately struck the stone at Roxas's feet before subsequent bolts rained from the sky in a straight line aiming directly towards Axel's stiff form. The electricity closed the distance quickly, but Axel scoffed at Roxas's attack moving nonchalantly out of the way, yawning as he did so mocking the younger Nobody.

As he yawned he heard Roxas call out a second spell "Thundaga!"

Axel's eyes snapped open as he quickly took in his surroundings looking around for where the attack was approaching. The elder Nobody had only just heard the sound of crackling electricity in the sky above him before a bright flash of light exploded above his head and he felt just over 10 billion watts of electricity violently strike his body. It was all he could do to remain standing as his muscles spasmed and shook from the shock waves rippling through his entire body.

When Roxas appeared at his side with both of his Keyblades reared back and ready to strike, there was nothing he could do to stop him. Twin slashes formed a cross against Axel's chest before he was pushed back with a third strike arriving at his midsection.

"D-Damn it!" Axel spat in pain. The attacks hurt more than they normally would as his flesh was still tender from the massive bolt of electricity. Beginning to regain the feeling in his limbs, Axel tried to raise his arms in time to defend against Roxas as the teen appeared from the sky and descended upon him. His efforts were futile however as Roxas's blade found their marks against Axel's chest and forced the elder Nobody to the ground. Roxas Hovered over his former friend, positioning his weapons on either side of Axel's throat.

"It's over." Roxas spoke calmly, looking down on Axel with a look of contempt.

Axel snarled at him "What makes you so sure!?"

Roxas dug his weapons deeper into Axel's neck, almost choking the man "You're hardly in a postion to talk Axel! Give up!"

"Why do you pretend to care so damn much?" Axel snarled in response.

Roxas was slightly taken aback by this question, responding with only a "What?"

"You pretend to care so much about these 'friends' of yours, you pretend that you're actually angry when we both know that can't be possible. You pretended to be worried about that Ruby girl when you sent that blonde where ever you sent them to get treated." Axel held his look of disgust as he stared up at Roxas. Roxas could only stare back down at him in bewilderment.

Axel continued "What do you get out of all of this? What do you hope to gain by pretending that you still have a heart huh? What is it that you think will happen by continuing this facade? The only way people like you or me can be complete again is through Kingdom Hearts! Don't you understand that?"

"I- you...I'm not..." Roxas's words drowned out within his throat.

"You're a Nobody Roxas! An incomplete being without a heart. Stop pretending that you're actually a person and realize that the only way that this little dream you've been living will actually come true is if you come back to the Organization."

"Shut up!" Roxas finally spat back.

"wha-?" Axel began before Roxas interrupted.

"I don't know if what I think I'm feeling is true. I can't tell you if I'm pretending or if I'm actually behaving this way because that's how I feel! I can tell you this though. I know that I'm not _trying_ to feel! I'm not _trying_ to pretend anymore! And I'm definitely not trying to return to the Organization!"

Axel's expression no longer held its scowl, instead it was replaced with a blank stare.

"...So that's how it has to be." he said in a dark tone. Roxas hadn't seen it before but Axel's palms had been quickly building with energy before he pointed his hands straight at the ground beneath them.

"Goodbye, Roxas." Axel said in a solemn tone before the deafening boom of two explosions rocked the ground beneath Roxas's feet. Roxas stumbled back from the shock waves and was completely engulfed in a massive cloud of dark black smoke. That combined with the night sky made it nearly impossible to see his own hand let alone where Axel could be in those moments. Roxas turned his head left and right trying his best to get even a glimpse of his former friend with no success.

The young Nobody suddenly grew very still, trying his best not to make a sound as he came to the conclusion that if he couldn't see Axel, then Axel couldn't see him; and if that was the case, then they would only be able to locate the other if one made a sound.

Roxas scanned the darkness with sharp eyes before he heard something split the air to his left. Roxas turned his head and for less then a second he could see what appeared to be Axel's Chakram flying past him a couple yards away. Roxas gave it a strange look, not understand what Axel had been aiming for before he heard the noise again to his left. Turning his head he couldn't see the Chakrams, but he could hear them piercing the smoke as they wildly danced about the darkness.

Roxas couldn't understand what Axel was doing before he felt a sharp pain erupt in his back. Roxas called out in pain as the Chakram dug into his lower spine, tearing the shirt Ruby had bought him to shreds as it spun rapidly. Moments Roxas could hear a second Chakram splitting the air as it moved like a bullet in his direction. Unable to see the projectile, Roxas raised his Keyblade feebly hoping that he could get lucky and defend against a force he couldn't see. He had no such luck as the second Chakram struck him in the ribs, tearing against his skin as it rapidly spun. Again Roxas involuntarily hollered out in pain from the attack, before a bright ball of flame began its path towards the young Nobody. Able to see this attack Roxas was able to move out of the way in time just as the two Chakrams propelled back and away from him; leaving him a little winded, but still standing. Roxas heard the now familiar whizzing sound of one of Axel's weapons as it struck the ground directly where he had been standing before before ricocheting out and away from view. Roxas finally under stood what Axel was doing as he saw this.

 _He's just as blind as I am in this mess. But he's been taking random shots in the dark hoping to hit something... and when he does he keeps attacking that spot until I move. Fine, I'll just get rid of the smoke then._

Roxas raised his Oathkeeper to the sky in preparation of a areoga before pausing and thinking

 _Wait... maybe I can use this..._

Axel stood on the border of the large smoke cloud where he listened keenly to the sounds within. This was a tactic he used when the target was being a little bit rowdy, and Roxas definitely counted. If Roxas took a step he would hear it and punish the teen for doing so. He had expected the younger Nobody to cast some wind magic by now, but decided to not question it and simply take advantage while he still had it.

He heard the familiar scrape of metal rubbing against stone and immediately threw his Chakrams at the noise. They passed clear through the smoke with no resistance leaving a frown on Axels face. A second sound not unlike the first rang through on his right and again the Nobody threw is Chakrams, again, with the same result.

A third noise came and Axel was surprised that he struck nothing as his arms moved faster than a bullet in response; Throwing his Chakrams only for them to bounce off the stone harmlessly.

"Found ya." he suddenly heard directly in front of him before a familiar looking Keyblade fell like a hammer atop his head. Unable to see through the smoke he was incapable of defending against the second swing which struck him in his ribs. Dazed and confused Axel tried to put distance between he and his opponent by leaping back, but as his body left the ground he felt a hand reach out and snatch his foot before he could get away. Axel was yanked back down to where Roxas was awaiting, his Oblivion ready in his other hand.

Axel stumbled as his feet met the ground and was punished with a crack to the side of the face which sent the Nobody twirling in place. Two more consecutive strikes connected with his body before he felt both Keyblades meet his midsection at the same time with a force that sent him flying backwards and out of the cloud of smoke.

Axel grunted as he struck the ground. Slowly picking himself up, he saw Roxas stepping out of the cloud after him with a cold expression on his face.

"Hehe... pretty clever kiddo... triangulating my position from my Chakram throws. That second hit to the head really clarified that up for me."

"Give up." were the only two words Roxas uttered as he continued his stride towards his fallen friend.

Axel scowled at the boy "What? You think I'm ganna give up just because you got a few good hits in? I'm not done yet kid!"  
Axel was quick to get back to his feet as his hands parted out to either side. In response, flames erupted from the ground, quickly spreading in a line that bent and curved so that it encapsulated both he, and Roxas. Soon the roaring flames Rose and thickened to the point that Roxas could no longer see the world outside. His entire view was consumed by flames and the form of Axel, his breathing now strained as he stared back at Roxas.

"Just you and me Roxas! Lets finish this! No more tricks! No more games! Lets end this!"

Roxas turned his head to examine the flame arena Axel had made form them before turning his gaze back on Axel. Nodding his head he spoke a single word "Fine."

Roxas darted forward, driving his Oathkeeper into Axel's chest only for the attack to be deflected by Axel's ready Chakram. Roxas stepped back as he narrowly avoided being struck by Axel's own wild swing before countering with a sweep towards Axel's legs. The Oblivion struck nothing however as Axel leapt into the air in that moment pausing as it appeared energy began to build in each of his hands. Roxas retreated back as he prepared himself for whatever was coming before noticing the intensity of Axel's gaze.

The look appeared strained and desperate, and Roxas knew that this next attack was going to be massive.

"HAH!" Axel called out as he finally fired the orbs in his hands. They each quickly grew to the size of a small car as they approached Roxas who looked on in terror. He had never seen Axel launch an attack this powerful before, and to see it heading straight towards him was horrifying.

Roxas put as much power into his swing as he could as he batted away the first Orb with his Oblivion before batting away the next with his Oathkeeper. It took everything in him just to prevent those two attacks from landing. The attacks each passed through the wall of flame and resulted in an explosion that Roxas knew if he had seen a direct hit, he wouldn't have been getting back up again.

Roxas looked back up at Axel who was still suspended in the air as two more orbs of equal size hurled themselves at the young Nobody. Roxas, restricted by the arena of flame around him, had no choice but to meet these attacks head on once more. His tired arms did there best to force the twin attacks away from his body. His first strike was successful in again forcing the Orb away and outside into the flames, but as he pressed his second keyblade against the next Orb, he felt his arm begin to buckle. Quickly reenforcing his Oathkeeper with his Oblivion he was forced to use both arms in an effort to push the attack up and over his head.

"RAAAAAH!" Roxas roared as his arms finally found the strength to force the massive ball of death up and away from him. His arms felt like jelly, limply falling down to his sides as he felt the explosion behind him rumbled through the ground beneath his feet.

Looking up he could see Axel preparing yet another set of flames quickly building in his hands. Roxas could see the strain in his face as Axel did this, but none the less the attacks were still building, and Roxas knew he didn't possess the power to stop them this time.

Trapped by the raging inferno surrounding them, Roxas found himself staring at Axel in glum defeat before he felt something else within him begin to release itself.

Roxas looked down at his hands and found a familiar glow begin to surround his entire body. His Keyblades were each engulfed in a bright powerful white light that slowly began to flood the young Nobody with a new found energy he hadn't known was there before.

"IT'S OVER!" Axel called out as he threw his final two orbs at the young man below. These two were even more massive then the last, each easily dwarfing Roxas in size as they approached in rapid succession.

Roxas felt a new found resolvewithin himself as he saw the Orbs approach. He couldn't just keep defending, he couldn't run, he couldn't dance around what he knew he had to do. Instead of waiting for the attacks to come, he darted through the air towards the explosive orbs.

He raise his Oathkeeper above his head before splitting the first Orb in two with a blinding strike. His light passed through the flames as if they weren't there, forcing the two halves to shoot harmlessly past Roxas and through the raging inferno.

\ The next orb met a similar fate as Roxas divided the attack into four equal sized pieces with two consecutive slashes before continuing his momentum towards the stunned form of Axel. The four powerful pieces of flame struck the ground behind Roxas as he closed the distance between he and his friend. The sound of an explosive boom pierced the air just as Roxas formed an X across Axel's chest, the X burned with a bright white light that knocked Axel to the ground with a force that broke the stone upon impact.

The flames around them quickly died down to faint embers as Axel lay still on the ground. Roxas stared at his fallen friend with a sad expression. He wasn't moving, he wasn't getting up this time around as he lay flat on the ground with his arms outstretched. Roxas felt the energy from before leave his body and suddenly the weight of his Keyblades grew too much for his exhausted arms to handle. He let the weapons drop from each hand as he slowly walked over to Axel's limp form. He knelt at Axel's side and saw his former friend open his eyes, slowly, as if that simple action was a strain in itself.

"Wow buddy. Looks like you got me." he said with a feint chuckle. The chuckle slowly transformed into a raspy violent cough that shook his entire body. After that his breath grew strained and painful with each intake. Roxas watched this in solemn silence, it wasn't until after Axel's breathing began to regulate once more that he spoke.

"It took everything I had to do it." Roxas admitted, he had never felt this tired in his life, even against Xigbar he hadn't felt this strained.

"Yeah?" Axel responded in a coarse voice "It better have. I won't except if any other member takes you down alright? That goes for Xemnas too buddy. I should be the only one to even get close to taking you down. Got it memorized?"

Roxas nodded his head, feeling a warmth begin to slowly run down the side of his cheek "Alright. I got it."

Axel's eyes found Roxas's before widening at what he was seeing "Are you... are you really?"

Roxas stared at him in confusion as the warm feeling began to run down his other cheek as well "What? What is it?" he asked.

Axel released another quiet chuckle "You're crying Roxas. You're actually crying like a real person. Do you realize that?"

The younger Nobody brought a hand to his cheek and withdrew it with wet fingertips. He was crying.

"That's crazy Roxas. I didn't think it was possible for a Nobody to cry... I mean... how can you fake that?" he said as his gaze looked out towards the night sky "...I always knew you were special Roxas..."

"I wish I didn't have to do this." Roxas said in a quiet tone "I wish you would have just given up."

"I couldn't give up Roxas. The Organization told me that I was to either bring you back... or end you." Axel said faintly "This was the way it had to be. I'm actually glad... it ended this way."

The two grew quiet then, listening as the flames around them began to slowly die and fade. The stars above shined brightly in the darkness, finally beginning to reveal themselves as the flames died and the smoke began to clear away.

Axel was the first to speak and break this silence "I wish I could see it... one last time. The sun set... atop that clock tower..."

Roxas felt the need to sniff his nose as he used his sleeve to wipe away his tears "You know... I learned that the sun is a star, just like all those up there. So if you think about it. It's like we're looking at thousands of stars all at once."

Axel smiled at his comment "Yeah? I think I like that. Who needs a sunset?... were looking at a million of em... right now!" he and Roxas chuckled together one more time before saying "You know Roxas... it's funny... you act like you have a heart... and yet... you were always the one person... who could make me feel like I have one too."

Roxas could see the pieces of blackness begin to lift from Axel's body. His form slowly beginning to dissipate as Nobodies do when they die.

"It looks like... I'm beginning to fade away... Roxas." Axel said as he stared at the darkness rising from his body. His speech was strained and difficult as the Nobody struggled through each word.

Roxas reached out and clasped his friend's hand.

"You were never my enemy Axel." Roxas said barely able to contain his sorrow as tears continued to fall from his eyes.

Axel laughed at Roxas's statement, the pieces of darkness rising faster as his form began to quickly fade away "I already knew that... don't you remember? I said before that... we're always friends dummy... think you finally... got it memorized?"

Roxas nodded and said, choking back his tears "I do. I promise I'll remember from now on."

Axel closed his eyes for one last final time as he said "Good... That makes me...happy."

A smile formed along Axel's lips as his form finally dissipated completely.

Roxas's hand still cupped the air where he had been holding Axel's moments before.

He could do nothing in the moments after but cry.

* * *

 _Author's Note: I hope you can see now why I placed a warning in the beginning of this chapter. I was an emotional mess by the end of writing this. There were several moments where I had to actually stop writing because tears were beginning to obscure my view. I hope you all don't hate me for this chapter. I partially hate myself for this. I may receive several angry reviews saying that Axel shouldn't have died. I think it's important to realize that despite his heart touching friendship with Roxas, he was far from innocent. I tried to show this with the neighborhood wide fire he started, as has showed before that he has no issues with sacrificing the innocent in order to get his way. Some of you may recall in Chain of Memories how in a scene where he is attempting to put an end to Marluxia, he had no qualms about sacrificing Namine when Marluxia summoned her as a shield. We know from this that he had experience sacrificing the innocent in order to satisfy his goals. I don't know why I'm trying so hard to justify why he wasn't innocent. Perhaps I am just trying to remind myself of this and why I made this decision. Either way, I hope you all found a way to appreciate this chapter in some way._

 _To all of my fans who have tended to review in my past chapters, I thank you dearly as those reviews have truly pushed me to proceed as I write, and to those of you who don't normally review my chapters, I ask that you take some time to review this one at least. It was a difficult one to write and I would sincerely appreciate as much feedback as I can get for as much as I put into it. Also, if you managed to read the whole chapter in one sitting, do mention it in your review! I'd like to know who found this chapter hard to stop once their started._

 _All reviews will be responded to via PM!_


	15. Chapter 15: Remains Of The Flame

His feet trudged through ash and soot. The flames had finally began to run their course as their fuel, the burnt and darkened homes around him, provided nothing but crumbling ash.

His eyes, puffy and red, held no focus as he slowly made his way back to the theater from which he had started. He had it in his mind that he should do one final walk through, to see if just maybe there was still someone to pull out of the aftermath of the carnage. But as he stepped, his mind could only barely pay attention to his surroundings as the events of the last hour replayed over and over in his head. Stopping, he turned his head to watch the last of a small flame slowly wain until only embers remained. And then, after that the wood slowly grew dimmer until it was completely black. The young Nobody knew where he should be, where he should be going right now. He knew he should be getting back to Beacon as soon as possible to find out if Ruby was okay or not. That urgency, that voice that was telling him all the things he needed to do was calling out to him, pleading for him to listen, but something unfamiliar was numbing the full weight of its message. It was a dull numbness. Roxas's entire being felt numb, as if he couldn't quite process the world around him as he made his way down the streets. In those moments, nothing matter to the young Nobody.

Roxas continued his stride then, slow and without vigor towards what sounded like the sounds of water simmering and steaming. Turning the corner, he could see firefighters battling what appeared to be the last large flame. It had completely consumed a house, but was unable to spread to the neighboring untouched home as the firefighters vigorously worked to douse the flames. Gallons of heavily pressurized water crashed against the home creating the sizzling sound Roxas had heard from before. Roxas gazed up at the spectacle as well as many civilians who had surrounded him to watch. There was so much noise, so many relieved voices within the chatter that Roxas didn't react when he heard a voice he knew call out "Hey! It's you!"

Roxas continued to blankly stare on at the dying flames before he felt a hand grip his shoulder and spin him around. The face Roxas stared at now was one he could only barely recognize. It took him some time for his glazed over expression to shift into one of recognition.

"You do remember me right?" The man asked with a smile that couldn't seem to fall from his face. In his arms was a little girl who was also smiling and hugging the man tightly. Roxas realized that he recognize this little girl as well as the woman who quickly appeared at the man's side, tightly gripping his hand with her own. She was smiling too.

"Yeah..." Roxas said slowly, the words in his mouth felt foreign, as if he had only just now remembered how to talk again "You're the man... I helped get out of the burning building."

"That's right buddy!" he said with a cheery expression.

"You saved daddy?" the small girl, who couldn't have been more that four, said looking up at Roxas with wonder filled eyes.

"Thank you. I can't thank you enough for what you've done for us." The woman finally approached, she had short brown hair that cupped her face. She was a pretty woman, with defined cheekbones and bright blue eyes. Roxas remembered this woman. She had been crying when he entered the flames; Scooping up the small girl currently in the man's arms when the girl had asked for her dad. She was crying again now, but it was different this time. When he had seen her crying before, it had been with a sad expression. She had been frowning with hurt eyes that reflected a real pain. This time however, she was smiling a with the same look in her eyes as the man had when Roxas had saved him.

She wrapped her arms around Roxas, pulling him into a hug of which Roxas did nothing to stop. The Woman was roughly his height as his chin rested against her shoulder, he could feel her chest quiver with emotion before her voice choked "You saved my husband, you saved my family. I hoped for a miracle to bring him back... and that miracle was you." Roxas could feel his own shoulder begin to dampen from her tears. Pulling away she said "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm probably soaking you." she laughed at her own downpour, wiping the tears away with her sleeve.

"It's... fine." Roxas said quietly.

"Its true." said the black haired man from before "I was the last person on my shift when the flames went up. They trapped me...and... for a long time... I thought I would never see my family again. Thank you. Like my wife said, we can't possibly thank you enough."

"It's fine... really it was nothing."

"Thank you! I'm glad daddy is back!" called out the small girl. She had rough brown hair that fell down to her shoulders and the same blue eyes shared by her mother and father. She was waving her small hand in an effort to get Roxas's attention when she spoke.

Looking down, Roxas felt the pull of a small smile form from his lips before he responded "You're welcome... I'm glad I could help."

"My name is Mark. My wife here is Eliza and this darling right here," The man said raising the small girl currently on his hip"is Isabel, my pride and joy. I told them all about you and called you Mr. Hero throughout the story, but I can imagine that isn't your real name."

"It's Roxas."

"Roxas, huh? what a unique name!" he said, his smile still unshakable "Well Mr. Roxas If you would do us the honor, my wife and I would be more than happy to have you over for dinner some time. Here, Let me just give you my address real quick and you can stop by when you get the time! I'm sure my family would love to hear about the young man who saved dad."

The young girl nodded as Roxas accepted a petite paper with an address on it. The small family thanked him one more time before departing leaving Roxas to his own tasks.

Roxas turned to watch the last of the flames die from the unrelenting efforts of the firemen before slipping off to a dark and out of view alleyway. He could feel the voice calling for him to go slowly begin to return in full force, telling him exactly what needed to be done. There he summoned a Dark Corridor before stepping through.

* * *

Roxas emerged on the rooftop of Beacon. He stared out at the night sky for a short time before finding the stairwell leading down and back into the school.

He made his way to the urgent care facility within the school where he assumed his friends would most likely be.

The room shaped itself with curved walls that rose forming a half cylinder from the ground up. Several empty hospital beds were spaced out along the wall on either side of Roxas as he made his way through the space. Roxas could first see Pyrrha standing along the bedside of Ruby's still form. Her expression was one of worry as he approached.

Roxas then saw Yang's form as well as the rest of team RNBY, his head looking down towards her sister. The entire group was silent as they simply stood there. Roxas's steps echoed against the tiled floor, announcing his presence before he did.

Yang whipped her head around as she heard Roxas approach. The Nobody could see recently dried tears running down from the blonde's puffy red eyes. Her look of worry soon shifted to an expression Roxas hadn't been expecting.

Rage.

The young woman had bandages wrapping around her arms as well as multiple points down her thighs and legs but the injuries didn't appear to slow her down as she stomped her way towards Roxas.

Roxas froze in place as she approached before she barked "You have some questions to answer!"

It almost appeared to Roxas that the young blonde was going to attack him as she made heavy strides in his direction.

Pyrrha must have seen this too as she quickly moved to place herself between Yang and Roxas "Hey, let's take it easy now, you're injured and we don't want those to get any worse." Pyrrha spoke trying to make sense to her friend.

"Who was that Roxas!" Yang roared at the teen.

"He... was someone from my past. A part of the Organization I've told you all about."

Yang shook her head, her expression growing even more furious by the second "Yeah I figured that!" she snarked "But why in the hell was he attacking MY baby sister!?"

"He... he..." Roxas struggled to answer the question. He knew why of course, Axel had explained well enough when they had fought. But trying to explain to someone that their friend, their family was hurt due to something that had nothing to do with them, was hard to explain.

Finally Roxas released a sigh, condemning himself to the truth as he said "He was trying to get to me. He was trying to capture her. He wanted to return with her back to Organization XIII so that I'd be forced to come back." Roxas could see the collective reactions from the rest of team RNBY as well as Jaune and Pyrrha. They stared at him with puzzled looks, all except Blake, who for the first time Roxas had seen it, bore a look of surprise.

Yang's eyes widened, staring Roxas down with such an intensity that the young Nobody was nervous that he would begin to feel a hole burn through his head.

"So... you mean to say." Yang spoke with anger laced in every word "Ruby... My family... my baby sister... is lying on that bed unconscious and hurt all because she was friends with YOU?"

Roxas could only nod. His gaze cast downward as he no longer had the nerve to look the girl in the eye.

"I'm sorry..." Roxas said.

Yang scowled saying "Save it. I'm not the one you should be apologizing to." before crossing her arms and turning away.

Roxas looked over towards Ruby's bed a couple yards away. She appeared peacefully sleeping as she laid there, here chest rising and falling rhythmically. Her head was bandaged tightly around the point where Roxas had seen blood only an hour ago.

"How is she doing?" he asked.

"Just resting for now." responded Nora with a glum expression.

Roxas could feel the tension in the room building as Yang refused to meet his gaze a second time.

"I...I shouldn't have come back." Roxas said under his breath as he turned his back to the rest of the group. He began to leave before he felt a hand tightly grip his arm.

"You better not be planning on running away again." said a threatening voice.

Roxas turned back and was surprised to see the person holding his arm to be Yang "Why? It's dangerous for you to be around me...that's why I left the first time. I thought it would be safer for all of you if I wasn't around. It turns out I was right."

Yang gazed at him with an expression of such disgust that this time for sure Roxas thought he was going to be set on fire

"You see that girl right there?" she said yanking his arm so that he was now facing Ruby's bed.

"...Yes I see-"

"Well!" she said cutting off the remainder of his sentence "That young girl was completely devastated when you left the first time. And now she's lying there, beat up and hurt because of that dirty no good Organization you were a part of. So if you hurt her like this, and then immediately follow that up by breaking her heart a second time. I'll personally take it upon myself, to hunt you down, and give you a whole lot more than a firm talking to. I don't care how tough you are blondie."

Roxas felt a lack of words to retort as Yang released his arm, and for the first time, her expression eased to something more sympathetic. Her sympathy soon froze over as she crossed her arms again "Do you understand?" she said in a manner that resembled a command more than it did a question.

Roxas's gaze fell allowing blonde strands of hair to drop in front of his eyes "Yeah, I get it. I wont leave."

"Good." she said sternly before turning and walking back over to the bed. The look the rest of her team were giving her resembled shock as she returned, but none of them said a word. Roxas continued to remain still, his gaze never leaving the ground, his expression invisible to his classmates as Pyrrha began to approach with a concerned look.

She gently laid a hand on Roxas's shoulder as she said in a voice that the others couldn't hear "She's just emotional right now Roxas, try not to take it to heart alright? I'm sure she didn't mean-"

"But she's right!" Roxas's sudden outburst sent Pyrrha recoiling in shock.

"Roxas, it's not your fault. They are bad people, you aren't responsible for their decisions." Pyrrha spoke with focus and compassion.

"But **I'm** responsible for the decisions they make! If it wasn't for **me** Ruby would be just fine right now! If it wasn't for **me** , none of you would have ever been targets! If it wasn't for **me** all of those people in Vale wouldn't have been caught in that fire! And if it wasn't for **me** two of my best friends wouldn't be gone!"

The group huddled around Ruby were all staring at Roxas now. Even Yang had turned back; her rage had seemingly subsided as she stared at Roxas with astonishment.

"It feels like nothing I do can lead to anything good..." Roxas's voice began to lower from his initial outburst "I've been trying my hardest to distance myself from my past, from the people who filled it before. But no matter how hard I try, it's like just existing will lead to the people around me being hurt."

"...Roxas..." Pyrrha said reaching her hand back up to his shoulder. Looking into her eyes Roxas could see them begin to shimmer with liquid. Roxas himself began to feel a familiar sensation of warmth building at the base of his eyes but before it could spill over he turned and darted out of the room. He could hear the others behind him calling his name as his feet clattered against the tile.

* * *

Roxas looked up at the stars as the night air dried his recently wet cheeks. He remembered what he had told Axel in his final moments. That each star was like a Sun, and suddenly he was brought back to the clock tower in Twilight Town. The beautiful setting sun was casting a comfortable warmth across his body as his hand tightly gripped onto a blue sea salt ice cream. He was laughing, he didn't know at what, but Axel was sitting to his right laughing just as hard as he was. Roxas could see him so clearly as he did his best to contain his amusement at whatever they were laughing at. Roxas then felt a slim elbow playfully jab him in the side and a feminine voice call out 'stop it'. Roxas turned his head to his left and saw Xion looking more than embarrassed as her cheeks turned a bright shade of red. She was just as he had remembered her. A slim face with dark black hair that cupped her cheeks running down to the base of her neck and a set of blue eyes that matched his in brilliance. Roxas couldn't drop his smile as he stared on at the girl who also appeared to struggled to contain a smile, meanwhile Axel continued to tease her about whatever the topic had been. It didn't matter to Roxas. The memory ended as Xion's serious demeanor was finally broken down, giving way to a bright smile that soon joined their laughter.

Roxas felt his lips pull up into a smile as the memory passed. His peace was soon interrupted though as he hear the clicks of foot steps behind him. He didn't bother to turn his head as they came to his side.

"Thought I'd find you here." spoke a familiar voice.

"Hey Weiss." he said only barely audible.

"Hey." was all she responded with as she sat down beside him.

There was a long time where neither said a word to each other.

"Are you okay?" she asked after awhile.

"I guess."

Weiss couldn't read Roxas as he sat there, staring off into nothing "I heard that you were involved in a big fight down in Vale. Where the fire started. You're really okay?"

"...Yeah, mostly...How did you hear about that?" Roxas said doing his best to push back the thought of the last few hours to the deepest recessions of his mind.

"It's the talk of the school. I heard it passing by that one blonde boy who was somehow appointed leader to your team." she said placing a finger to her chin in thought trying to remember his name.

"You mean Jaune?"

She nodded "Yes that was his name. He was mentioning something about finding you for some reason."

"huh..." Roxas mumbled to himself knowing that he would probably need to go see what his leader needed soon. But not now.

"You're clothes have been entirely torn to shreds you know." she said looking hum up and down.

Roxas peered down at his chest to find she was right. His white over shirt was in tatters with numerous black stains littering its fabric. His inner black T-shirt was cut across his chest horizontally exposing his stomach to the night air. His dark jeans bore holes along the knees as well as his shins and upper thighs. Even his shoes weren't left unscathed as he could see clearly a small hole formed at the base of his heel.

"It looks like they are. Too bad." Roxas spoke plainly, the emotion in his voice gone and replaced with monotone apathy.

"Well I'm glad that it wasn't my outfit that was ruined on you, although I must admit from the tattered remains of what you're wearing I assume it must have looked pretty good."

"Yeah... it was good."

Another silence instilled until Weiss blurted out "Roxas... if you don't mind telling, just what happened to you down in Vale? I mean I know you're a quiet person and all... but it's clear to me that something really affected you down there."

Roxas took a deep breath as he collected his thoughts, deciding on whether or not it would be good to tell her. He knew it wasn't her problem to deal with, that these trials had been his and his alone, but something within his consciousness urged him to tell her. There was something inside that wanted to be let out, and looking at Weiss for the first time, he somehow saw a way to release the unrelenting spiral of thoughts circling his mind just then.

"I got one of my friends hurt... again." he spoke slowly.

"Oh... was it that raven haired girl? Ruby, was it?"

Roxas nodded "How did you know."

"Again, rumors. Its not often that one of Beacons students are injured to a point that they are bedridden. I suppose word has gotten around."

"Oh. I didn't know people were talking about it."

Weiss gestured with her hands as she said "Well it's not so bad I assure you, no one is saying anything bad about you of course."

"Oh..." Roxas said his gaze dropping from Weiss "Maybe they should be."

"Why?"

Roxas looked up at her question. Looking into her eyes he could see nothing but sincere empathy and concern. He could see just how much she wanted to help in those eyes.

"Ruby's injuries, Yang's injuries, the fire in Vale... its all because of me."

"What?" she responded confused "How is that... did they... do something to you?"

"What?" he said shooting her an equally confused look before understanding what she was implying "No no no, it's not like that. Do you ...remember me telling you about the people after me?"

He received a nod in response.

"Well one of those people came after Ruby because of me, and started the fire because of me. They wanted me bad enough to put all those people in danger. It's all my fault everyone is hurt... or worse."

There was a long pause before Roxas heard the girl beside him blurt out "Pfffft that ridiculous."

Roxas looked over at her with wide eyes watching as she smirked at him as if he had just told her that he had met a blue talking monkey who dance atop coffee mugs.

"How is that ridiculous? If they didn't know me known of this would have-"

"Did you start the fire?" Weiss spoke sharply, her expression suddenly shifting from amusement to a cold stare.

"No I didn't but-"

"And did you attack Ruby?" she said again with the same sharp tone.

"Again, No but-"

"Well then as far as I'm concerned this is not your fault." she said crossing her arms as if her word was final "suggesting that simply because one event led to another means that fault is to blame is ridiculous. I don't blame the waiter if I spill my drink simply because he served it to me. I don't blame the store simply because their candle is what caught my homework on fire and made me do it all over." she paused to grumbled over this example "The point is that you didn't do this Roxas. These events were out of your control and you can't keep blaming yourself over everything bad that happens just because it involved you."

"But that's-"

"Ah! Ah! No buts!" she said wagging a finger "I don't want to hear it. If you want to play this game of blame then you could very well blame Ruby herself for these events simply by the fact that she chose to be friends with you. I bet you could even find a way to blame me somehow simply for me not being there to help when the fire started. See? Do you see how ridiculous that sounds?"

Roxas opened his mouth to protest before stopping himself. Thinking her words over, he nodded.

"Exactly. So stop beating yourself up about this. It is not your fault that these things happened. The only people you should be pointing fingers at, are those people who hurt your friend. **They** are the only people responsible for what happened down in Vale."

Roxas only nodded at her comment, his eyes peeling as he was left with even more to think about. He couldn't decided for certain if what she said was true, but it certainly left him feeling better hearing it.

Roxas turned his head as he heard Weiss giggle "What? Why are you laughing?" he said titling his head at her amused expression.

She covered her smiling mouth with her hand before saying "I'm sorry, it's just that, I never took you as the emotional type."

Roxas stared back at her with utter amazement. Emotional? Him? Suddenly her words brought his attention to a very specific moment in the night hours prior.

His fingers rose and touched a point of his cheek where it was still a little damp.

"Weiss?"

"Yes?"

"Do you remember what I told you about myself that one night? About me not having a..."

"Having a heart?" she finished his sentence.

"Yeah, that. Well... something happened tonight that left me... confused about all of that."

Weiss nodded placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Weiss... do you think I have a heart?"

Weiss took a long time to answer as she took a deep sigh "You know... it took me a long time to understand what you had been trying to tell me that night Roxas. At first I thought you had meant literally, like your body could function without the physical organ but then I started to try and look at it differently. When you told me you didn't have a heart, were you telling me that you couldn't... feel for others?"

Roxas only nodded at her comment, nervousness arising from what her response would be.

She smiled at him "Well then, as far as I'm concerned, you absolutely have a heart."

Roxas took on an expression of disbelief "Why do you think that?" he said with mild shock.

Her smile widened at his expression "Because you care so much Roxas and you don't know it. Why do you think you feel so guilty over what happened in Vale huh? Why do you think you've been crying about your friends? It's because you care about those things Roxas. You feel bad about those things because not only do you have a heart, but I dare say you have a big one."

"Really?"

"Of course," she said "But why did you think you didn't have one?" she asked.

Just before Roxas could muster a response, an audible beeping began from Weiss's pocket

"Oh jeez what is it this time?" she said in mild annoyance as she withdrew the scroll from her pocket.

Her annoyance shifted to surprise as she said "Oh, its a message from Professor Ozpin... looks like its a chain message sent to all students..."

"Play it." Roxas said as he leaned over her should to watch.

"Hello students." Ozpin began in a tone that appeared pleasant but Roxas could tell that it was hiding something else "I understand that the majority of you are currently trying to enjoy the last hours of their weekend until they have to get some rest for school in the morning so I will try to keep this brief. It has come to my attention that this student-" a picture of Roxas flashed onto the screen "Has recently lost his scroll. Unfortunately this has left me unable to contact him at this given time. As such this is my message to all students, if you do see this student by the name 'Roxas' then please do direct him to my office immediately. Ms Goodwitch has posted bonus points towards her classes for any student that directs him to me. Thank you, and have a nice rest of your weekend."

The message ended with the final word, leaving Weiss and Roxas looking over at each other in confusion.

"I wonder what he wants." Weiss asked.

"I think I have an idea." Roxas said as he stood from the ledge. Weiss quickly followed behind him as he made his way to the roof entrance.

* * *

The two walked in silence as they made their way to the elevator. Roxas was left to imagine just what Ozpin had in store for him as they rose it up. The doors opened and Roxas stepped into the room.

There waiting for him was the exhausted looking form of Jaune, sweating as if he had been running quite recently. Ozpin, standing with a cup of tea in his hand, and a man he had never seen before.

He bore a long white coat that ran down to his legs as well as matching white dress pants and gloves. Beneath his coat was a gray vest and red tie tucked in so that only the top was visible. His hair was a deep black, short and swept to the side except from some gray that peaked out around his sideburns. Beneath his hairline sat two darker blue eyes that focused themselves upon Roxas the moment he stepped into the room.

Roxas felt a cold chill run up his spine as he stared back into those eyes that appeared to stare through him.

He heard Ozpin then say "Ah, Roxas. It appears you received my message. Thank you Weiss, is it right to assume it was you who informed him?"

"ah- yes. We were talking when I received it." she spoke quickly, eying the man in the white coat. "Thank you, I'll inform Glynda for your extra credit. Thank you Roxas for meeting us here. Before, Jaune had been searching for you left and right."

Panting Jaune said "Where were you? Sheesh you vanished on us."

"Sorry." Roxas responded "What exactly did you need me for?"

"Well," spoke the man who Roxas didn't know, his voice was deep and with a commanding tone "In light of the recent events in Vale, I was hoping to speak to you about your little friend and what exactly happened tonight."

"Oh... you want to know about Axel?" Roxas said. The name left a strange taste on his tongue.

"Is that his name now?" the man spoke with raised eyebrows "That's a start, we haven't been able to get him to tell us anything for the longest time."

Roxas stared at him in confusion "What? What are you talking about?"

The man gestured with his hand to the right of the room where Roxas hadn't been looking. Turning his head, Roxas saw sitting with his arms and legs bound to a wooden chair sat a familiar dirty blonde in the typical Organization XIII coat. His head had fallen, drooping his long hair over his face.

"Demyx?"

The blonde lifted his head as he heard his name spoken, he smiled as his eyes met Roxas's "Hey buddy! How have things been going for you?"

* * *

 _AN: Phew!looks like I made the 2 week mark! Thank you all for the overwhelming support of last chapter. I'm glad it was met with positive reception. As for this chapter, I only barely made it lol. I actually wrote the majority of this chapter today, mostly out of a desire to actually meet the selfenforced deadline twice in a row. I intended for a lot more to happen in this chapter, but like always conversations and dialog takes over and before I know it a full chapter has gone by. That being said next chapter as well as most of the next arc is planned out from this chapter._

 _All reviews will be responded to via PM!_


	16. Chapter 16:Picking Up The Pieces

Jaune was quick to exit the room not long after Roxas's arrival, excusing himself to 'prior engagements' as he put it.

The young Nobody stared at Demyx for a long time before asking "How did they get you?"

Demyx lightheartedly laughed before responding "Hey buddy, can you try something for me? Could you try and summon a dark corridor?"

"I- uh. Why would I do that?" he responded.

"Well you see." Demyx shot him a serious look "I've been trying for the last hour now. And I can't get mine to pop up. I was wondering if you could show me that it's still working."

"There's no need for that now." Professor Ozpin said taking a step forward "I assure you that I know the cause for your...inability to perform."

"Quite the contrary Ozpin, I think I'd like to witness this 'Dark Corridor' first hand." said the man in white.

Roxas turned and eyed the man suspiciously before asking "Just who are you?"

"Roxas!" Weiss whisper shouted into his ear "Be more polite! That man is-"

"It's quite all right Ms. Schnee, I'm sorry for not properly introducing myself earlier. I am General Ironwood, headmaster of Atlas Academy as well as a General of the Atlesian military."

"Oh," responded the teen "Well, nice to meet you then."

"For you as well." the man retorted with a pleasant smile that quickly washed away as he continued "I'm here due to the events-"

"Hey wait a minute!" called out Demyx's voice "What did you do to me old man!? Why can't I summon my portal?"

Ozpin frowned at the insult before taking a sip from his cup "I merely took the precautions necessary to ensure someone so dangerous would not be escaping any time soon."

Roxas watched the older Nobody's face contort into one of frustration before he shouted "I'm not _that_ dangerous! I mean I haven't even hurt anybody here! Come on!"

Ozpin rolled his eyes as the man tied to the chair continued his tantrum. Roxas took a mental note on Ozpin, eyeing him as this exchange occurred as he rolled around the idea in his head that Ozpin had the ability to somehow...block an Organization member's corridor?

 _That means he'll be able to disable mine..._ the young teen thought with mild wary.

Ironwood turned to address Roxas once more "First and foremost, Ozpin has told me as much as he knows about your situation as well as what we know about your former position with what I can only assume is a terrorist group, and I have a few questions for you."

 _terrorist group?_

The younger Nobody found the comment strange as the headmaster of Atlas spoke "First, I would like to know if this group is in anyway connected to the White Fang. I heard from your friends that the events in Vale were the result of one of his" he pointed a finger at Demyx "allies. It was an attack that is not unlike what the White Fang has been known to do in the recent years."

"There's no connection." the teen responded calmly "That fire was only because the Organization likes to stay a secret. He wanted to make sure there were no people around to disturb him."

"Hmmm," Ironwood responded, cupping his chin with a hand "So your telling me that this man started a neighborhood fire as a cover... correct me if I'm wrong, but by the sounds of it he was attempting to attack your classmates."

Roxas nodded, a sad frown beginning to form from the corner of his lips "His name was Axel. He wanted to get to me. He thought getting to them would get to me. I'm sorry."

"His name... _ **was**_ Axel?" Ironwood repeated.

The young Nobody again nodded, slowly this time as he remained quiet.

"I see." Ironwood spoke understandingly "I've been told by your classmate Yang that you arrived to...help them in their fight before they left using this 'Dark Corridor' you speak of." Ironwood paused "Is this correct?"

"It is." Roxas spoke quietly.

Weiss's eyes widened as she finally understood what Roxas had told Ironwood. She turned and looked at Roxas with a stunned expression as she envisioned just what the boy in front of her must have had to do in the hours prior.

"Wait wait wait," Demyx suddenly called out "You're not saying what I think you're saying...right? You didn't- Axel isn't-" Demyx started to growl as he watched Roxas drop his gaze to the floor. He snarled before spitting "How could you!? I thought you two were supposed to be best friends!Axel kept telling me about how he wanted to see his friend again. He wanted things to go back to normal and that's why I decided to help him! I didn't do it because Saix ordered me to! I did it as a favor to him because I could tell he really believed he could bring you back! I can't believe that you would do that to your best friend. I know that we're Nobodies and all, but I still can't believe how heartless you've become! I didn't believe it could have been you to take down Xigbar! When he didn't come back, I assumed it had been someone else to do him in. But now, I know it was you. You used to be one of my favorites, just a cute little kid swinging around a keyblade. But now I see that your just a traitor like everyone said you were."

The room grew quiet after the Nobody's words. Roxas couldn't find the strength to meet the gaze of any person in the room in those moments as his hands curled into quivering fists.

It was Weiss to break the silence as she reached out and placed a hand on Roxas's shoulder.

When the boy didn't resist she quickly transitioned the gesture into a hug. The teen's body remained stiff as he received the hug but his reclusive demeanor broke as Weiss told him "I'm sorry. I know that must have been hard."

Suddenly, a single visible tear ran down Roxas's cheek before the teen quickly wiped it away with the back of his hand. He was tired of crying today. He didn't want to cry anymore.

"wait...did you just...?" Demyx started before falling silent, casting Roxas a perplexed look.

"Thank you. It was." Roxas responded back ignoring the other Nobody and reciprocating her hug before releasing her and addressing Ironwood once more "Are there any more questions you need to ask."

Ironwood seemingly shaking himself from shock, cleared his throat before beginning "Ah, yes there are. I need to talk to you about just who this group you were formerly apart of are as well as what their overall goal is."

The teen took a deep breath before allowing his walls to drop. He decided he had been pretending for too long, that these people deserved to know what what may be befalling their world "They're name is Organization IIIX. They are a group of Nobodies, being without hearts seeking to fulfill our leader, Xemnas's goal."

"And just what is that goal Roxas?" Ozpin asked, is normally peaceful expression turning into one of absolute seriousness.

"To complete Kingdom Hearts."

A hush fell over the room as Roxas said this. After several moments an annoyed voice called out

"Oh why don't you tell them all of our secrets why don't you?"

Again ignoring Demyx Ironwood spoke "And just what is 'Kingdom Hearts'?"

Roxas sighed before admitting "Honestly? I don't really know. All I was told was that completing Kingdom Hearts is the Organization's ultimate goal, and I'm somehow the key to achieving that."

"What? Why is that?" Weiss asked confused "By the sounds of it their group are composed of more than capable adults, why would they need some short blonde teen?"

Weiss noticed Roxas recoil from the comment of 'short' and added "Uh, not that short of course."

The Nobody shrugged off the insult before lifting his hand and in a flash of light summoning the Oathkeeper to his palm.

Ironwood appeared mildly startled as his eyes rested on the elaborately decorated weapon before asking "And just what is that?"

"A Keyblade." the teen answered.

"Keyblade..." Ozpin murmured under his breath inquisitively.

"And just what does that blade have to do with 'Organization XIII'?" spoke Ironwood.

"Well-"

"It gathers the hearts necessary for Kingdom Hearts to be formed." Blurted out Demyx suddenly "It's the only weapon able to."

"Feeling a little bit more helpful now are you?" Ozpin said looking over towards the annoyed Nobody.

"Just bored of this slow conversation. Hoping to speed it up really."

"Do you want to answer a few more questions in that case?"

Demyx groaned, throwing his head back in agitation "I was hoping that would be the last one!"

"Wait a moment... Roxas can you answer me something?" Ozpin spoke clearly, receiving a nod in response he continued "What made you join this Organization in the first place? Why would you help this 'Xemnas' fellow towards achieving his goal when you don't even know what it is you were striving to achieve?"

"I-... it's because-"

A laugh bellowed out from the elder nobody's chest "Why don't you tell them Roxas? Tell them why were are the way we are? Why we do the things we do." Demyx sent a cold stare at Roxas, daring him to continue.

"Kingdom...hearts..." Weiss murmured under her breath before realization washed over her expression. She recalled what Roxas told her about his heart, or the absence of and it all clicked why he would have been helping towards this goal. Her eyes lit up as she turned to Roxas, knowing just what he was trying to say.

"Because we aren't the same as-"

"Because they've been tricked!" Weiss suddenly blurted out.

"What?" responded the headmaster of Beacon, Roxas and Ironwood in unison giving Weiss incredulous looks.

"Ms. Schnee please, allow the young man to answer." Spoke the older General.

"Weiss we weren't tricked, it's because we were-" the young Nobody began.

"I know what you're gonna say, because you 'have no heart' but I say that's pure nonsense when you think about it!"

Stunned silence ensued following Weiss's comment before the young heir decided to continue "Roxas, you believe that you are incapable of feeling emotions even though its clear as day that you have emotions left and right! You believe that you're without your heart where I think that you've just been brainwashed to believe these things so that Xemnas can take control of you and push you towards this 'Kingdom hearts' goal! Let me take a wild guess hear and assume that he _told_ you that this 'Kingdom Hearts' would somehow restore your own?" she received a quiet nod as her answer "I mean that certainly makes more sense then not having a heart!"

A second silence ensued.

A beeping noise emanated from Ironwood's pocket prompting him to retrieve his scroll. Looking at the screen an expression of urgency washed over his face as he turned to Professor Ozpin.

"It appears I need to take my leave." turning back towards Roxas and Weiss he said "I appreciate your time in explaining your situation to me. Unfortunately I have to tend to some important matters elsewhere."

"That's fine." Roxas responded quickly, sensing his urgency.

"Uh, no problem." Weiss responded less elegantly than she would have hoped.

Turning back to the headmaster, the general said "I assume you are allowing me to take this 'Demyx' fellow into my custody?"

"but of course. It's why I sent for you in the first place." responded the silver haired man.

Ironwood nodded before pressing a few buttons on his scroll before pocketing the device and heading towards the elevator.

"Wait what?" Demyx responded as he appeared to just be tuning back into the conversation "Hey! Don't pawn me off with this old coot!" Turning to eye the man walking past him he shouted "You're not taking me anywhere! What have I done that's so wrong?"

The general scoffed at the statement "You've attacked two of Beacon's students as well as openly admitted to being a part of the terrorist group responsible for burning down much of the residential district of Vale. That's quite enough to hold you behind bars for quite some time."

After entering it he turned and smiled back at the group "Goodbye Ozpin and the young students of Beacon, I hope we meet again on better terms."

Ozpin smiled and nodded "I'll make sure to send you a file that will detail some... other details you may like to know."

The general peeled his eyes before shooting Ozpin a knowing nod back. Roxas took note of this transaction as the metal doors came to a close. _What are they talking about?_

Minutes after the elevator went down with the General of Atlas, two troops dressed in strange white uniforms baring the 'Atlas' symbol returned. Collecting the squirming form of Demyx, the two soldiers picked the man up by the legs of his chair before carrying him to the elevator, the entire time the Nobody called out in protest.

"Hey! No! Wait up now! Set me down!" Whipping his head back towards Roxas he called out "Don't let them take me! C'mon Roxas! Help me please! For old times sake!"

Roxas stared into the equally blue eyes of Demyx and could see the supposed 'panic' setting in on the Nobody's face. Roxas dropped his gaze after only a few moments, turning away as the man pleaded. Roxas felt conflicted about letting Demyx be taken into custody by this world's government, but also understood that there was very little he could do to keep the man here. Here the older Nobody was a risk to the other students in the likely event that he managed to escape and he had technically committed a crime. What General Ironwood was doing made sense from an outsider's perspective he had to admit. In the end, Roxas didn't even know _why_ he didn't want Demyx taken away despite their opposing sides, but he knew that regardless, there was nothing he could do for the Nobody now.

The dirty blonde was set down in the center of the elevator facing out towards the group as the solder on the right pressed the down key. Finally understanding that his calls for help were falling on deaf ears, his expression soon shifted into a snarl as he spat "You traitor, nothing left of the old Roxas I knew. Just some worthless-"

His words were cut off as the doors shut and the elevator briskly hummed sending the trio down the shaft.

"Well, he was quite a character." Weiss spoke distastefully.

"Are you well Roxas?" Professor Ozpin suddenly inquired.

Roxas turned from the elevator doors to look up at the older man with a tired gaze. He felt drained as he stood there with his eyelids heavy and his arms feeling more like anchors weighing him down on either side hanging limp.

"It's been a long day." Roxas responded calmly.

Ozpin instructed Roxas to go get some rest seeing as the information he'd been given would suffice for now. Roxas and Weiss quietly walked together until their paths parted to their own respective dorms.

"Roxas?" she said just as Roxas began to turn the corner to his room.

"Yes?"

"Do you ever... regret leaving them?" Weiss asked with a nervousness to her tone.

"...No." the blonde responded, focusing his mind as he found his words "I knew I had to. There was a time that I wouldn't have. But now... I'm glad I didn't go down that path."

Weiss smiled "I am too."

* * *

The following days were uneventful by comparison. Classes resumed as usual, Weiss purchased a new scroll for Roxas and he quickly recovered from his injuries as well. His days returned to his usual routine with one small exception.

He made sure he paid visit to Ruby.

First she was asleep for a day, then that day became three, and before he knew it the girl had been out for a little over a week.

Roxas sighed as he sat down beside Jaune at the lunch table with his tray. Pyrrha remained on the other side of their leader as they each took in the empty space on the other side of the table. Yang's anger at Roxas had only grown as more and more time accumulated with no sign of Ruby awaking. It didn't take long for that tension to transfer to the rest of the team and soon enough the remaining members of team PRJR found themselves sitting alone for the first time since the start of the school year.

"So, how are you feeling you did in Ms. Goodwitch's class today?" Pyrrha spoke in a cheery manner, obviously trying to keep the conversation upbeat.

"Hmm, I doubt I did too well. I didn't study for that test much." Jaune admitted in between sips of milk.

"And you Roxas?" the red head asked leaning over to look at the Nobody.

Roxas was picking at his food with little interest when he felt the eyes of Pyrrha on him. Looking up he said "What?"

"I was asking how you think you did on Ms. Goodwitch's test." she spoke with a friendly smile.

"Uh, fine I guess." he said before turning his attention back to his tray. It only took a few more seconds of staring at the cafeteria food before he rose pushing the tray away

"I don't think I'm very hunger. I'll see you two in class." he said before beginning down the walkway.

"Where are you off to?" Jaune asked withdrawing his attention from his food for the moment.

"I have something to take care of." the Nobody responded without turning to look back. He knew if he did he would catch a glimpse of team RNBY sitting a few rows down. He didn't want the look of daggers he'd grown so accustomed to every time his eyes accidentally met with Yang's.

He made his way back towards the medical ward as he'd grown familiar with over the last week where he made sure no one else was around as he approached Ruby once more.

Hovering his two open palms above the onyx haired teen he focused all of his energy, his eyes clasped shut as he better prepared himself.

Whispering, he spoke to himself "Please... c'mon please this time work..."

Feeling the pinnacle of his energy surge forth his eyes flashed open as his voice echoed throughout the chamber " **CURAGA!** " in response massive glowing green swirling symbols appeared above the girls head shedding their healing properties amongst Ruby's forehead and face. Bits of green rained down from the enchantment, it had been the largest 'cure' spell Roxas had ever been able to cast, leaving an excited expression to spill onto the teen's face as the magic went to work. His hope was soon dashed however as the green began to dim and the magic quickly grew weaker with no affect. Soon the 'curaga' had completely dissipated leaving only a disappointed young blonde and an unconscious young woman in its departure.

Roxas sighed as his head hung low. He had been trying this every day now, sometimes several times a day in a hope that something, anything would bring her out of this comatose state.

He had asked the on site doctors about what could be causing the continued sleep with no comforting retort. He had been told that 'head traumas can have this affect, and it will depend on how long the body takes to heal itself to determine when they wake."

Roxas departed from the medical ward but paused when he heard a familiar voice calling out around the corner out of view.

"That's not fair! It's only been a week! They can't do that!" Yang called out in her ever normalizing anger.

"Please understand. While it is true that our facilities are state of the art, we are not a legitimate hospital. We are a school first and foremost, and being its headmaster means that I have to take the necessary steps to make sure my students are met with their proper needs. Your sister needs proper-"

"That doesn't mean she needs to be taken away! Have them bring their stuff here!"

Roxas could hear the headmaster audibly sigh from down the hall. Although Roxas had stopped short of eyes sight, he could already imagine the scene. Yang with fists clenched standing in her 'ready to take on the world' stance and Professor Ozpin standing calmly with his hands resting behind his waist as he tried to defuse the situation.

"Please Yang, it would be unreasonable to have any facility withdraw their own equipment as well as proper personnel to tend to the needs of a patient who is perfectly stable enough to be transferred to their location, where everything they would need to help your sister get better would be there."

Roxas could hear the girl growl before her voice suddenly released its tension allowing defeat to wash over "Just... give me a few more days okay? I just want to hope for a little longer. Maybe she'll wake up ya know?"

There was a short silence between the two before the Professor responded "Of course. I'll send word that she is to be retrieved after the 7th."

"Okay..." Yang sounded as if the fire within her had been extinguished "If you'll excuse me, I think I want to go visit my sister now."

"Please, I know she would like that." his voice sounded understandingly sympathetic as the conversation came to its close.

Roxas stood frozen in place as he did his best to process exactly what he had just heard.

 _They're... moving her?Where?_

Roxas spun around to stare at Ruby's still form resting on the bed. He questioned if she didn't get better, if he would ever see her again. Would he even be given the information for whatever hospital Ozpin planned to send her? He knew that Yang wouldn't allow it if she had any say.

 _If she doesn't wake up soon... will I ever see her again?_

Lost in thought he didn't pay attention to the approaching sound of footsteps echoing towards him down the hallway. It wasn't until the elder sister of Ruby Rose spun around the corner meeting Roxas face to face did he realize that he probably should have left by then.

"...! You!" Yang's facial features quickly shifted into a snarl as she recognized the boy in front of her. Roxas couldn't deny the rage in the young woman's face in those moments, but he could also see a dampness to her cheeks as well as a redness to her eyes.

She had been crying.

"D-did you hear all that?!" she exclaimed.

Roxas remained frozen, but his lips broke the spell "Yes."

She growled once more "Well then you know that my sister is going to be moved away from the school, the school she had dreamed about attending is sending her away because of **you."** the venom laced in her words was almost felt against the boy's cheeks as her words reached his ears.

"I'm sorry." Roxas responded firmly.

"I've heard enough of your 'sorrys'. No matter how much you apologize that doesn't make things better. 'Sorry' doesn't undo all the damage you're responsible for, 'sorry' isn't gonna un-burn all of the homes down in Vale, and 'Sorry' isn't gonna wake my sister up any time soon."

Roxas sighed as his head fell "I know." there was a pause before he felt the young woman push past him, colliding shoulders as she did so. Roxas turned his head to watch the blonde kneel down beside her resting sister. Her eyes began to turn puffy once more as she gripped the small girl's hand tightly into her own. The Nobody watched as she brought her head down and rested her forehead against Ruby's, whispering a message only she could hear.

Roxas decided this was the time for his leave as he stiffly exited the medical ward.

The young man found himself walking down the hallway with no real destination as he felt a vibration within his pocket.

It was a message from Weiss-

 _Meet me later today at your usual spot on the rooftop. I have a surprise for you._

Attached was an image of his dark black Organization coat, looking fully refurnished without the holes he had seen littering its chest before.

 _Huh, well I guess I have that again._

Roxas dismissed his scroll to his pocket when he heard a voice call out his name

"Roxas!" it was cheery and one he didn't quite recognize.

Turning he came face to face with Nora and Ren, the former smiling brightly as was her norm.

"Hey blondie! How are you?"

"Fine." he responded sternly.

Ren addressed the young blonde next "We heard the news about Ruby. We didn't think Yang would care to tell your team, but I thought it would be appropriate you all knew. Ruby is being moved to the hospital down in Vale for better treatments. She should be departing in just a few days."

"...Thanks." Roxas responded, not wanting to tell them he had already known.

Nora released an audible sigh "Man it sucks that she got hurt and all. I wish she would just get better like I did as a kiddo."

"Nora, this isn't the same situation." Ren scowled.`

"What is she talking about?" the Nobody inquired. Considering the circumstances Roxas was desperate for any treatment that might mean Ruby wouldn't have to be sent away.

"Oh well!" the girl clad in pink started appearing rather proud "When me and Ren were growing up I didn't get sick often but when I did oh boy it was a doozy!"

"That's because you would always run out without a jacket when it was below freezing." Ren spoke sounding more like an annoyed parent than a simple friend.

Nora waved off his concern "Pffft, jackets are for wimps! Anyway _occasionally-_ " she said putting extra emphasis on the word as Ren shook his head " I would get sick and Ren would make me this awesome little miracle juice that would perk me right up!"

The raven haired boy smiled faintly as he added "It was just a small concoction composed of some tea, honey and a small, _small-_ " he said looking at Nora with serious eyes "amount of caffeine as well as a few other ingredients."

"Yuppoo!" the brightly colored girl cheered "It always picked me right up!

"Yes, well returning to topic. We hope that Ruby gets well soon and returns to Beacon."

"Right..." Roxas agreed his voice fading as his mind suddenly began thinking, in a flash his eyes re-opened as an idea rushed to the forefront of his mind.

Nora tilted her head as the flood of excitement surged through the teen"You okay there?"

Roxas felt his lips curl up into a small grin "It's-it's nothing. You two just gave me an idea is all. Thanks."

"An idea?" responded the girl as Roxas turned quickly moved past the two down the hall.

The young Nobody heard the eccentric woman holler after him 'what idea?' but he paid it no mind as he feet carried him swiftly forward. He had to meet with Weiss as soon as possible.

* * *

Wiess was surprised to find the young man waiting for her as she arrived atop the roof. The moment he saw her approach Roxas rushed forward, a gleam in his eye that Weiss had never seen before.

"Do you have it?" Roxas said bringing his face only inches from her own.

"I- um-" she said as she took a step back in surprise. She quickly lifted the suitcase she had been carrying at her side.

Presenting the case to him she said "I hope you know it was not easy getting this fabric repaired. It took a long time for my hires to find the same fabric especially given how unassumingly unique it is."

Roxas briskly took the case out of her hand and opened it up, revealing his signature coat and gloves looking almost new.

Roxas lifted the clothing to further examine it but noticed beneath it something more he hadn't been expecting. A second Organization coat was lying just under the first one.

"You made... more?"

Weiss smiled proudly "I thought it would be a wise idea to make a few extra for you given how badly you had torn your previous one. Once we found the matching material it was easier than you would think."

Roxas felt a smile form across his lips. A full smile, something that Roxas hadn't done in what felt like a very long time.

"Thank you." the teen said with gratitude.

"You're wel-"

Before her statement could complete, Roxas's scroll started vibrating loudly within his pocket.

"huh...?" Roxas responded as he pulled the device out of his pocket.

The look of bewilderment written on Roxas's face as he stared at the still ringing scroll lead to Weiss asking "Who is it? What's wrong?"

Roxas looked up at Weiss with confusion written across his features "It's Yang."

Weiss knew of the continued stain Ruby's injury had put on team PRJR and team RNBY's friendship and as a result shared Roxas's confusion as they stared at each other not knowing what to do.

Finally, Weiss broke Roxas out of his daze by eagerly saying "Well answer it! You don't want her more angry than she already is!"

"Oh! Right!" the teen quickly answered and put the device on speaker "Hello?"

"We need to talk. Now." Yang spoke with a grave tone.

"Um...about what?"

"You know what. I want in."

Roxas's eyes widened as he understood what she was saying, still trying to feign ignorance he said "I really don't know what you mean."

"Cut the crap Roxas!" her temper finally rearing its head "Nora told me about the conversation you had with her. I know that you thought of something to help my sister. I want in."

Roxas mentally scolded himself for letting Nora know he 'had an idea'. Of course she would have passed their conversation onto Yang with how much she liked to talk. He just couldn't have imagined that Yang would have figured him out by such an obscure detail.

"What is she talking about?" Weiss asked completely lost in the conversation.

Roxas sighed, allowing his demeanor to drop only slightly "I think I have a way to wake Ruby up. But it's a long shot." he admitted "I just... it's the last thing I could think of."

Roxas could hear a cheer on the other end "Good!" Yang shouted, sounding almost like her own old self as she asked "What's the idea?"

Roxas debated on telling them, but the debate only lasted a few moments as he admitted to himself that he had been keeping his secrets for long enough.

"I need to get an Elixir. That may be able to save your sister. But it's going to be tough."

"An Elixir? Why is that so tough?" asked the young blonde.

"Well, the only place I've known where to get them before... is The Castle That Never Was."

"And where could that be?" Weiss asked rolling her eyes over the strangeness of the name.

Roxas shot her a stern look before answering"It's the Organization's headquarters."

 _ **Author's Note:**_

 _Oof! 3 days late! I'm sorry about that! I recently have been getting over a skin rash and am (thankfully) finally feeling normal again and it's great! The only side affect of the medicine I've been taking is that it knocks me out! (lol) So I've only just gotten the energy back enough to complete this chapter again. But I'm very excited about the next coming chapters so I'm looking forward to writing that. This is also a moment I've been building to for quite awhile like the Axel fight._

 _Also, I know I haven't mentioned it much before as numbers haven't mattered too much to me but I have to acknowledge that the story has reached over 300 favorites as well as over 400 followers with over 300 reviews as well. That number is incredible and I am so appreciative of all the support and positive criticism as well as negative to allow me to improve as a writer. The fact that so many of you enjoy my story is astounding and I feel like I need to thank each and every one of you which is why I take the time to respond to each review no matter the length (lol). I actually had this done at 10 but due to each review and proof reading I'm pretty sure I wont have this out until 1:00._

 _All reviews will be responded to via PM!_


	17. Chapter 17: A World That Never Was

"Yang. Please, stay out of this."

"There's not a chance that I'm not coming." she spoke firmly.

"It's dangerous."

"Yeah I figured. We're going to your old group's headquarters right?" she said as she pulled one of the spare cloaks out of the briefcase, eying it with distaste.

"You don't understand how much of a danger they are. I don't even know if I'll be able to make it out by myself."

"All the more reason for me to back you up hmm?" she said in a sassy tone.

"Please, you could be-"

"You do realize it was **ME** fending off that 'old friend' of yours by **MYSELF** before you stepped in right!?" she suddenly snapped, the color around her pupils flashing a fiery red as she stared Roxas down.

The boy had nothing to say.

Redirecting her attention back to the cloak, she said "I'll be able to hold at least one off..." she cast a grim look as she pulled the clothing over her head "At least for a little while."

Roxas released a sad sigh as he accepted that the young blonde in front of him was determined to come along.

Just as this thought ran through his mind he heard a sharper voice say "Well, would you look at that? It appears that our sizes aren't far off at all."

Turning, he saw Weiss had already pulled the coat over her body. Her words rang true as the cloak fit well, completely concealing the snow white outfit she normally bore.

She pulled the hood over her head pushing her ponytail to the side of her neck "How do I look?" she did a light pose and flashed a smile at Roxas.

He stared at the girl in front of him for several seconds before saying "I still don't get why _you_ are coming along."

Weiss huffed and placed her hands on her hips, seemingly unsatisfied by Roxas's response to her question "Simple. You are my friend and will undoubtedly require my assistance in this mission ahead."

"Weiss..."

Yang cut off his sentence and she said "Look Weiss, we haven't known each other for long, and while **I** am shrugging off his concerns, that's not to say they aren't true. You haven't tasted what we are about to taste. I know what's coming this time around. Do you?"

A conflicted look appeared on Weiss's face before her expression steeled over in resolve "I may not, but as a future huntress in training it is my duty to do all I can to help and protect the people of Remnant. If Ruby is in trouble, then that means I need to do everything in my power to save her."

"But I thought you didn't even like Ruby." Roxas suddenly blurted out.

Yang suddenly whipped her head from Roxas to cast a fiery gaze towards the ice queen. Weiss felt the heat radiating from the girl and immediately melted in response "H-hey! Roxas! That's not true at all!"

"Really? But the only time you two have met you-" Weiss was quick to rush to Roxas's side, covering his mouth with a swift hand as she said "Now we _may_ have gotten off on the wrong foot, but that by no means suggests that I don't like her!"

Yang's eye's peeled as she stared down the nervous form of Weiss before turning her head with a 'hmph'. The young blonde had finally managed to zip the coat the rest of the way after having some trouble pulling the zipper past her, more developed form.

"So, would you remind me one more time just why we're getting this thing? I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything." Yang asked.

Roxas opened his mouth to answer but found Weiss's voice answering first "Yang seriously we've been over this twice now. The elixir is an item that replenishes and restores the user completely, healing them of all wounds as well as their energy which I assume Roxas means restores their aura." the girl turned back towards Roxas for confirmation.

"Yeah that's pretty much it. It's a long shot for sure, but I bet it could wake your sister up." he spoke confidently.

"Alright then that's good enough for me, lets do this." The fiery blonde exclaimed pounding her golden gauntlets together "How we getting there? Is it far?"

"...You could say that..." Roxas raised a hand and erupting from the ground came the dark swirling flames of the dark corridor.

"...Oh..." Yang said in stunned silence as the white in her eyes reflected the dark flames in front of her.

"So...We can't use one of my planes or...?" Weiss said searching for a compromise still fearful of the warning she had been given by the young Nobody about this mode of travel despite her newly acquired coat.

"This is the only way there." Roxas confirmed.

"...Fine." The fear in the pit of the blonde's stomach dissipated as she stomped towards the portal. Closing her eyes, she prepared herself to enter the same apparition that had delivered that monster with the spikey red hair to her in Vale the week prior. Just as she felt the odd sensation of cool flames brush against her skin, the sensation vanished. Opening her eyes she found that she was still standing in her dorm room, the flames being extinguished.

Whipping back around she saw Roxas with his head lowered and a conflicted look in his eye.

"I can't." he said through gritted teeth.

Yang grumbled as she stomped back over to Roxas before grabbing him by his collar and forcing him to look up into her eyes.

"You open that portal up RIGHT NOW or else I'll-!"

"YOU'LL WHAT?" the Nobody suddenly roared back, an intense flame rising behind his eyes.

Surprised by the outburst the blonde student took a step back, releasing the boy in the process.

"You know what you'll do?" the young man continued "You'll get hurt, or worse. That's what will happen if either of you step through that portal. I can't... just keep letting that happen to my friends."

"Roxas..." Weiss murmured placing a hand on his shoulder "I told you... it's not fair to you if you keep blaming yourself for these things."

Roxas suddenly snapped as he pulled his shoulder away from the girl "But I do! And I won't let it happen again!"

A loud clap echoed through the room as Roxas's face was forced to the right. A hand print began to form on his cheek as Yang withdrew her arm.

"Get a hold of yourself. This time it isn't all about you. I get the whole 'the burden is mine' routine you're having right now, but Ruby has still not woken up yet and that's what is important right now. It's our choice to come Roxas, and as both her sister and a proper huntress-" she said giving a feint nod to Weiss "It's our duty and right to do what we have to in order to make things right."

"...You're making the wrong choice then..." Roxas faintly responded with his head low, hair hiding his expression.

"Well then, that's our decision to make." Yang responded aggressively.

"While I don't agree with such an unnecessary act of violence to get a point across." Weiss said as she shot Yang a dirty look "Yang is right. I understand where you're coming from Roxas, I really do, but there's not a chance that we're not going to be stepping through that portal with you."

"...Fine." he responded by raising his hand once more and summoning the dark corridor in the place it stood before.

"Good. Now that _that_ is settled, lets get a move on." Yang said as she eagerly marched towards the darkness, her coat flapping back and forth as she did so.

Weiss's eyes peeled as she eyed Roxas before calling out "Wait!"

Yang spun around sighing "What could it be now?!"

Weiss continued to eye the boy in front of her as she said "I think... it's best if we all step through together."

The Nobody's eyes grew big as he turned and stared at Weiss in disbelief.

She grinned in response "Knew it," turning to Yang she continued "I doubt that portal in front of you would have sent you to the place you want to be taken."

"What?" Yang cried out in surprise " Then where would it have taken me?"

Roxas's expression grew more and more guilty with each word Weiss spoke "I'm not sure, maybe he would have sent you to the front lawn, or maybe Professor Port's class, anywhere so that you wouldn't be here when he went through the right one."

Roxas shot the hire to the Schnee company a dirty look before admitting "Fine. I don't want to take you with me. I'm trying to protect you don't you get it!?"

Suddenly, he felt slender fingers intertwine with his own. Looking down, he stared at Weiss's pale hand gripping his own tightly as she responded "I think it best that we all enter your next portal holding hands, just in case you decided that we should arrive at a... different location."

Yang grinned at the girl that best resembled snow and followed suit. Reaching Roxas's other side, she grabbed onto his unwilling hand with a unrelenting grip that told him without words 'you're not escaping this time around.'

Roxas released a tired sigh as he allowed a third and final corridor to erupt from the ground. He pulled his hood over his head before ordering the girls to do the same as they each moved to the cusp of the flames.

"Please... just... don't get hurt." Roxas uttered just before the trio stepped into the darkness.

* * *

Her pupils took some time to adjust to the darkness, pulling her hood back from her face, her eyes stared out at the dark alley that they had stepped into.

"This sure doesn't look like a castle." Yang spoke crossing her arms in a way to show that she was unimpressed.

"I couldn't take us directly there." Roxas spoke in a hush voice "It wouldn't be safe to."

"What do you mean?" Weiss said, imitating his quiet voice with caution.

"If I brought us straight there someone might have seen or... sensed, our arrival. It's better if we enter by foot. I don't think they'll know we're there immediately if we go by foot."

"Hmph, fine." Yang commanded as she marched towards the corner of the alley where it bent left.

"Be careful." the young Nobody called out nervously as she rounded the corner. Weiss and Roxas started to follow suit but noticed the young woman in front of them freeze the moment she rounded the corner.

"What? What is it?" Roxas anxiously said as he suddenly darted forward, placing himself in front of Yang and whatever she was staring at. The young man whipped his head back and forth but found nothing as he stood guard glaring intensely down the alley way leading into a clearing.

"What... _**is**_ that?" Yang loudly exclaimed as she pointed a finger up into the sky. Weiss who had just stepped forward followed the finger with her eyes and too was frozen in place with wonder.

Roxas lifted his gaze and realized what they were staring at "That... that's Kingdom Hearts."

Above them, far off in the black and smokey sky was a massive glowing yellow moon, or so it seemed. This moon however, was not shaped like a moon, but instead resembled a heart floating in the distance. A blue line could be seen surrounding the outline of the Heart, giving it an ominous look as it took up most of the sky.

"It's...it's real..." Weiss uttered under her breath as she stared on with utter astonishment "I never thought... it was."

It was Yang to snap out of the trance first as she turned her head back to the young Nobody to ask "Where are we? Where in Remnant did you take us? Why does the moon look like that?"

Roxas stepped past the girls looking out towards Kingdom Hearts, but his eyes were seemingly focusing on something else.

"We're not in Remnant any more. This is the world that never was. This is where the Nobodies... call home." Turning back to stare at the blond he continued "And I told you. It's Kingdom Hearts."

"What is-" her words were cut off as movement caught her eye down the road "What is that?" she said pointing it out.

Roxas's eyes trained on the emerging figure with a focus Yang had yet to see on the boy. It was unsettling as he said in a cold tone "That, is a Heartless."

Forming from the ground as if it were rising out of water shaped a pure black figure. It appeared roughly the size of a large dog, writhing as it moved and hunched over on all fours. It's head was completely spherical with no mouth, no facial features at all except two dimply yellow beady eyes resting in the center of its face. It had no pupils, but Yang could sense that it was eying her as it faced them from down the road. What could only be antennas rested atop its head, appearing flaccid and crooked as if they were each broken in their own unique manner. They began to shift and move, seemingly twitching in excitement in response to their sudden encounter.

Before Yang knew what had happened, a bright flash of orange raced across the street and struck the creature dead on, completely obliterating it into a black dust that quickly dissipated.

"C'mon." Roxas urged, lowering his Oathkeeper "Let's get moving, they tend to swarm."

The two girls nervously fell in place behind the Nobody as they made their way down the poorly lit cement street.

Weiss was the first to ask "So that's a Heartless... and just what is a Heartless?"

"Creatures searching to steal and devour the hearts of beings that do have hearts."

"Well that's morbid." Yang said disgusted.

"They come in more shapes then one, but that one you saw right there is the most common one."

"Ok..." Weiss said trying her best to simply accept these claims rather than question them seeing as now wasn't the time. They were in a dark world with a heart shaped moon and tiny black creatures running around stealing hearts, What's not to get?

"They're extremely dangerous, so be careful if we run into a group."

"Is that likely?" Yang asked looking around cautiously.

"Very."

The two girls paused at the same time and shot each other nervous looks before quickly falling back in line behind the young Nobody.

As they walked the group took in the dark landscape surrounding them. The buildings were massive constructions stretching out to touch the seemingly never ending storm above them. Although bright flashes of lightning could be seen dividing the darkness and gray clouds that had spread out across the little amount of sky they could see, that light failed to bring even the slightest illumination to the streets down below. The buildings were built wall to wall, leaving little to no space in between and allowing no other path aside from the one they were walking. The buildings were almost exclusively constructed from cement with few structure taking on a metallic look as neon lights spaced out randomly from building to building allowing for the little light they were seeing. There were signs and billboards made visible by their neon light and bazaar symbols. Weiss couldn't read a word as she stared on, not knowing the language she was examining.

Weiss could see yellow lights shinning out of some of the panel windows along the side of a few buildings and quickly asked "They're are people here? Why don't I hear anyone, or anything?"

"Yeah this silence is starting to creep me out." Yang admitted looking less confident that she normally did. The only sound to be heard was their footsteps as their hard heels clicked down the stone road.  
"I don't know. I've never seen anyone else before." Roxas admitted.

"...Oh."

As the group passed a particularly large window illuminated by the lights within Weiss trained her eyes on the panels. She couldn't sense any movement, not a shadow passing by the glass nor a fleeting glimpse of anybody residing within the room.

She couldn't help but get the feeling that despite the numerous buildings surrounding them and the lights on within, they were alone.

The group took a turn that lead them up a slight incline when suddenly a strange noise could be heard behind them. Yang took note of it sounding similar to the noise they had made when emerging from the corridor of darkness, but multiplied, as if it were happening rapidly at once.

"Crap!" Roxas called out as he was the first to look back. Sprinting past them they saw him summon both his Keyblades before they turned to look as well.

More of the dark creatures had returned, this time in a pack that even Yang found intimidating. The creatures that Roxas had titled 'Heartless' rose from the ground in the same fashion that the first had, but multiplying into what appeared to be a small army of Heartless.

The girls stared on in disbelief as the Heartless continued to swarm, forming from the darkness in a manner that left each wondering if there was no end.

Roxas entered the group with a whirlwind of movement, spreading out his arms wide in a twirling motion in an effort to catch the most of the group as he could in one attack. The two blades passed through each Heartless as if they weren't there, evaporating the moment Roxas split them in two.

Roxas moved nimbly as she drove through the crowd, making sure that each strike successfully eliminated at least two heartless as the group continued to grow.

Weiss was the first to speak as she was snapped out of her trance "C-C'mon! Roxas needs our help!"

Yang merely blinked rapidly before too being drawn out of her shock and shooting the girl a determined nod.

The two woman quickly made their way towards the growing hoard with Yang leading the charge, drawing back a fist as she roared ferociously. She punched through the first heartless by driving her fist through the point just between it's eyes before puncturing a second with a well place shotgun blast. Each Heartless quickly faded as others stepped forward now eyeing both Weiss and Yang dangerously.

Noticing his friends now entering the fray Roxas halted his next swing in order to call out "Stay back! They're dangerous!"

"No duh!" Weiss responded sarcastically as she pierced through one of the creatures with her Rapier before immediately igniting the one standing behind it with the tip of her weapon. Each exploded in a small cloud of smoke as she moved on to the next.

Roxas felt a claw slash against his arm as he realized he had pulled his attention away from his opponents for too long, and they knew it. The young Nobody ducked as a particularly brave Heartless leaped into the air in an attempt to tackle the boy. Scowling, Roxas impaled the Heartless mid air before bringing it down and smashing it's head into one of it's brethren. Each dissipated in a black puff as Roxas continued his assault, moving with such speed that soon all that could be seen of the boy was a thick cloud of smoke from the number of consecutive exploding Heartless.

A grin was starting to form on Yang's face as she met her knuckles with the face of yet another Heartless before connecting an uppercut with a second that ejected it from the ground. The girl quickly finished it off with a well placed shotgun shell before dropping her elbow onto the skull of a Heartless attempting to charged into her legs.

"This is starting to feel kinda fun!" she called out in between punches.

"Focus Yang! We don't know what these things are capable- Whoa!" she cried out as she reared her head back only barely avoiding a swipe from a Heartless intent on tearing her head off. Weiss responded with an large sharp shard of ice piecing the Heartless through the chest before initiating a white Dust driven symbol on the dark stone. After taking a second to bring her Rapier vertical in front of her face, the girl shot her arm into the sky, resulting in a massive car sized piece of jagged ice erupting from the ground, striking and effectively eliminating a massive group of the Heartless in an instant.

"Haha! Chill Ice queen! These things are easy!" Yang called out in response as she lead a roundhouse kick into the skull of a Heartless she had launched into the air before hand. The creature was driven to the ground with a force that scattered its remains across the pavement. She drew back a fist and prepared to drive it into a Heartless who had darted to her left before out of the corner of her eye she saw a dark figure right at her face. Time seemed to slow as she realized one of the monsters had managed to slip by her guard, taking advantage of her recklessness and was quickly swiping it's dark claws towards the exposed part of her neck. Just as she felt the tip of it's piercing center claw reach her throat the beast burst in its now familiar black dust.

The black powder seemingly produced Roxas's Oathkeeper as it wizzed past Yang's head having just eliminated the Heartless which had literally been at her throat. Ignoring the Heartless she had previously been engaging, the blonde leaped back, pulling herself out of the middle of the swarm and turned to look at Roxas who was gazing in her direction with what could only be called a panic expression. Yang could see the fear in his eyes as he was struck in the side where his Oathkeeper would have been. The boy took the blow in stride, using the momentum to plunge his Oblivion into the following Heartless as he called out "Please! Let me handle this! I don't want you two getting hurt!"

Yang stood outside the now significantly smaller swarm as Heartless began to slowly make their approach towards her still form realizing the affect she and Weiss were having on the boy's fight. She hadn't noticed it at first, but the young man had purposely not turned his back on the two girls even once. His eyes were constantly switching from his own fight to each of their own in order to ensure that he could do something in case either started to turn struggle.

Weiss called out to Yang, seemingly having noticed this earlier "Pay attention Yang! You're not the only one affected by your sloppiness!"

Yang's expression shifted to a solemn look as she only nodded, slowly making her approach towards the next Heartless, this time her eyes more sharply scanning the field as she made each move. \

After only a few more minutes was the last Heartless slain as Weiss decided to end the creature by flipping over in before landing behind it and driving her Rapier through the Heartless and into the ground.

Wiping her forehead, the girl with the snow colored hair said "It appears that was the last of them. How is it that they are able to appear from the ground like that?"

"Dunno, they've always appeared like that." was his only response "Let's move quickly, they'll be back soon."

"What? But we took them all down." Yang complained, placing her hands at her hips.

The Nobody shook his head as he raised his weapon, displaying it "They can only truly be slain with this, the Keyblade. All you two are doing is sending them away for a little bit."

"Oh..." Yang uttered suddenly feeling like her contribution to the battle was less than what she had thought.

The group briskly walked up the hill until they reached a small clearing. As the ground turned level a gasp was released from Weiss's lips "Is, is that it?"

"Is what- whoa." Yang uttered as she quickly brought up the rear. The road ended abruptly giving way to a steep drop off into a void that of which the bottom could not be seen. The chasm was massive, stretching out as far as the eye could see, but that was not what captured the groups attention. A massive elaborately designed structure floated in the center of the chasm, seemingly immune to gravity's laws as it rested on air. The entire design bore a sleek white completion that heavily contrasted the void of darkness surrounding the castle. There was little symmetry present, with most of the structure being composed of varying sizes of towers all connected by thin, frail looking tubes.

"That's the castle... isn't it?" asked the now nervous looking blonde.

"Yeah, That's the castle that never was."

Weiss tilted her head as she stared own, taking on an annoyed look before asking "What type of architect would design a castle like _that_?"

"What?" Roxas responded.

"I'm just saying they must have been a big fan of more... _abstract_ work."

"You're not wondering why it's just impossibly floating in the sky like that?" Yang asked.

"Well of course I am! It's just with all we've seen so far, new monsters able to warp into existence and can't truly be destroyed by our attacks, traversing a seemingly an entirely new world, the moon being shaped like a giant heart! I'm just growing to accept these thing at this point. This place is strange Yang, That's what I've found I have to accept."

Yang didn't appear satisfied by this conclusion as she turned to Roxas and blatantly asked "Why is it that your 'Castle That Never Was' is floating on nothing like that?"

Roxas shrugged "Your bet is as good as mine honestly. This is just how things are here... I don't know why I've never thought to question it."

Yang rolled her eyes as she pushed to the front of the group saying "Fine then, C'mon enough wasting time, how are we supposed to get across? Are we gonna use that corridor thingy again?"

Roxas stared off at the castle with a puzzled expression "I would but..." he began.

"Buuuuut?" Yang repeated impatiently.

"But That would defeat the point of traveling here by foot if we just portal there anyway. They could still know..." Roxas finished.

"Well, what other options does that leave us?" asked Weiss.

"I...Don't know." Roxas admitted.

Sighing Yang began "Well could we find a plane? Or a helicopter? Maybe a Rope to swing across? Or maybe there's a door to get in or like a key-"

"Why would there be a door we could enter?" Weiss scoffed at the idea "It's not like there's a hidden hallway leading to it. It's clearly suspended in the air with no connections to land that I can see of."

"I'm just spit balling here, trying to get some ideas rolling y'know?" Yang retorted defensively.

"Well then, at least come up with better 'spit balls' as you put it, then a 'door or Key'. I mean seriously what would a key do? Unlock an invisible path? I think that's unlikely."

Yang crossed her arms and looked away dismissively "Whatever..."

The bickering girls each then turned their attention towards Roxas, who had summoned his OathKeeper and was examining the weapon curiously.

"What are you doing Roxas?" asked Weiss.

"I... dunno, something is just telling me that this is right." he said as he took the Keyblade in his hand and aimed it at the castle that never was.

A thin beam of light suddenly shot out of the tip of the Keyblade like a bullet, surprising even Roxas as it raced across the chasm and to the Castle ahead. Suddenly, a translucent blue path formed from were the road turned into a sheer drop directly to the lowest platform visible in the castle ahead, stretching for what could have been close to a mile across the vast void below.

The trio stared with massive eyes, each looking more surprised then the next as they took in what they had just seen.

"Did your weapon just...?"

"Form a bridge across for us?" Weiss finished Yang's comment.

"Yeah... I'm gonna be honest and say I've never seen it do that before." he said staring at the weapon in his hand with new found curiosity.

"Does it... do things like this often?" Weiss asked still trying to process how his strange looking sword was able to magically produce a path for them.

"Well... it can unlock doors and stuff." Roxas said mostly reminding himself of that particular trait.

"Oh? Can it now? So you just supposed that it would work in this situation?" Weiss asked incredulously.

The boy only shrugged "I thought it was worth a shot. Guess I was right."

"You know Weiss? I'm starting to get where you were coming from with just accepting things as they happen." She said before shrugging in defeat of logic before continuing "What gave you the idea?"

"I dunno... something in me was just... telling me to do that. Well that and you made me think about my Keyblade when you said the word 'key'."

"Hah!" Yang shouted triumphantly pointing a finger at Weiss "Looks like my spit balling wasn't so ridiculous after all huh?"

"Oh no your idea was still ridiculous by all means, but it just so happened to produce a better idea from Roxas, so I suppose you can take something equivalent to 'partial credit' on this one."

"Pfft, whatever you know I'm the reason we're able to cross right now." Yang rolled her eyes.

Weiss stepped forward and was the first to take a nervous step out onto the translucent bridge. She was careful at first as she put only a faction of her weight on the foot anxious about the bridge not actually being there due to it's translucent properties. Realizing it took her weight just fine she slowly brought her other other foot forward placing the rest of her weight on the bridge.

"Well..." she said staring down through the bridge and at the vast void down below "looks like the bridge is structurally sound" She turned to look at her friends with a worried frown forming "At least for now."

Yang released a laugh before marching forward with a new found confidence, passing Weiss and making her way towards the castle with steady strides.

"Lets go!" she called out with Vigor.

* * *

The trio stepped out from the bridge onto the white platform, their heels clicking on the floor and quietly echoing throughout the emptiness surrounding them. Weiss and Yang stared out at the castle's interior, mouths agape as they did their best to accept the bazaar looking designs and structures ahead. The platform they had stepped on was wide but with a path ahead that seemingly snaked back and forth as it made it's wake up what would have been the equivalent of a flight of stairs.

"Well, this doesn't look like it would pass a safety inspection..." Weiss murmured to herself commenting on the lack of any barriers to offer any sort of protection from falling off of the edge and back down into the nothingness below. There were indeed walls, but they were more like broken bits placed up randomly then that of actual completed walls as they hung suspended in the air surrounding them following the same rules the castle seemed to.

Yang looked over the edge of the platform before quickly retracting her head, looking rather nervous the girl spoke rapidly "Let's just get a move on already, we need to be in and out right? Let's get this elixir thing and leave."

Roxas nodded as he quickly started towards the winding path leading further up into the castle. Weiss and Yang were quick to follow after casting each other a nervous glance. The winding pathway was thinner than the platform they had arrived on and left each of the girls nervous as they stood uncomfortably close to the edge where they could see the emptiness down below. After a quiet walk the group stepped out into the center of a large platform relinquishing a relieved sigh from the two girls as the possibility of falling over the ledge quickly dissipated.

Roxas stopped, standing in the center of the platform and staring into the long hallway of which was the first walkway the girls had seen to actually have walls for the first time. It was also the only way to proceed as the only other path was the way back.

"If you'd like, I can send you two back now." Roxas spoke calmly, but without turning back towards them.

There was a silence as Weiss realized she was considering the option before Yang blurted out "Have we gotten the Elixir yet?"

"...Yang I-"

` "Answer the question!" she said raising her voice in irritation

"...No."

"Well then." she said crossing her arms stubbornly "That's my answer."

Roxas turned to looks at Weiss out of the corner of his eye "And you? I understand if you want to turn back now."

The girl took a deep breath before smiling back at the boy "I've not changed my mind Roxas. I may be a little shaken up by all of this... but that hasn't affected my resolve. As I believe Yang would say, 'I'm in this to win this'."

"I would say that." Yang confirmed with a serious nod.

Roxas appeared release a defeated sigh before saying in a disappointed tone "Well... alright then." He took a step forward before the space before him appeared to warp and discolor before a now familiar noise rang from the strange apparitions.

"More Heartless?" Yang asked as Roxas stepped back, summoning his Keyblades.

The four figures warped into existence, but these failed to resemble the creatures they had before even a little bit. Their skin was a white that appeared almost gray due to the darkness surrounding them. There were also tones of pink and purple present in the creature, but this was hardly visible as the trio swayed back and forth, their long arms resembling bell bottom shirts with a thin body, almost comically sized legs and nothing in the form of eyes or even a facial expression. All that composed the head of these creatures were sharp looking crosses that appeared dark and hollow running down the middle.

"That's... not a heartless, is it?" Weiss questioned.

"No." Roxas shook his head with a frown quickly forming "That's a Nobody."

 _ **AN:**_

 _Only a little late on this delivery but I hope that's alright for you all. Several of you have brought it to my attention the numerous amount of spelling and grammatical errors that have been present in the last few chapters and I deeply apologize for that. I scan through the document to the best of my abilities but am willing to admit that I have a difficult time proofreading sometimes as I sometimes read what I meant, and not what was actually there. I also found that sometimes the corrections or specific words will be taken out of my chapter by the fanfiction document transfer process. One of the reviewers brought it to my attention that there was a line of text in the last chapter where it appeared that Pyrrha and Jaune's sentence's suddenly ended as they tried to mention someone, but it came out as nothing more that a ' .The reader understandably thought this was my mistake but when I looked back on my laptop I saw that the name was still there. It appears that I'll need to do my proof reading on the actual cite before posting otherwise weird occurrences like these may occur where the fanfic doc will for some reason delete a word or name because it may not recognize it._

 _Also, I'm not so stubborn as to not admit when I'm not getting the job done myself, so if there are any out there willing to act as a beta reader in order to highlight and correct the grammatical and spelling errors that may sometimes slip through, please contact me via PM and we'll try and set that up._

 _All reviews will be responded to via PM!_


	18. Chapter 18: April Fools Joke!

_**AN:** So to all new fans of this series take note that this chapter was released on April 1st and was designed to be a joke chapter for the viewers. If you are uninterested in reading a bit of parody and joking, please continue on to the next chapter as that is the true 18th chapter._

 _Enjoy!_

Before Roxas could answer any further the nearest Nobody warped it's body so that it's torso and bottom half were switched in places. The creature spun rapidly moments after moving its bizarrely long arms and legs in a propeller like fashion as it quickly approached Roxas in this fashion. The boy seemed hardly deterred as he took a few steps back to avoid the dangerously spinning limbs before lifting his OathKeeper with one arm.

"Firaga." he spoke calmly resulting in a large orb of flame launching itself from the tip of his blade. Weiss thought at first the boy had missed when the attack completely missed the rapidly approaching Nobody. Only a moment after did she see what he was aiming for as the attack struck floor directly center of the group before erupting in a massive explosion that engulfed the group of nobodies in their entirety.

"Well, that was anti-climactic," Yang said dismissively as she dropped her guard placing her hands at her hips.

To say the girl was surprised would be an understatement as suddenly one of the Nobody's came spinning out of the flames towards her.

Releasing a startled yelp the blonde leaped back barely avoiding the monster's attack as it's limbs slashed at the space she had been only a short moment before.

"Be careful!" Roxas shouted in concern as he watched the scene unfold, he darted forward, placing himself between the Nobody who had attacked Yang and his friends. He waited for only a second for the creature to come to a stop before slamming the Oblivion into what would have been its head and following up the attack with the Oathkeeper which slashed across the creature's chest in a diagonal line.

The force sent the nobody hurtling back, but it wasn't long before it rose again, swaying back and forth as it had only moments before.

"They're much stronger than Heartless. It's gonna take a little more to take these down." he warned before engaging the Heartless who had attacked him before, stopping it's spin by raising both of his keyblades in a fashion that blocked both it's legs and arms in one motion. The Nobody hung dazed for several moments allowing for Roxas to swat the monster into the air before raising the Oathkeeper into the air.

"Thundaga!" he roared as the sky above the Nobody turned gray and a massive bolt of lightning descended from above in an instant striking the creature in its entirety.

The Nobody trembled from electricity racing through its body before dissipating into a sparkling burst that quickly faded away.

Roxas readied himself for the oncoming set of heartless, each spinning in the same manner the other had. Before the group could reach however a swirling set of symbols formed along the surface beneath them before a large mini glacier of ice erupted from the ground, striking the group with an incredible force. Each were sent into the air where Yang was waiting. Having used her shotgauntlets to adjust her flight trajectory as she flew towards these creatures she clotheslined one with a right hook, bringing it along for the ride just before coming to a sudden halt by burying her foot into the next. She brought her knee to her chest just before launching off of the Nobody while still carrying the one from before. She roared as she made contact with one of the few walls available, driving the Nobody in her hand head first into the hard surface. The impact was enough for the nobody to burst into the sparkling residue the first had.

The Nobody which Yang had launched herself off of was driven spiraling to the ground where a very particular ice princess was waiting for it. She drove her rapier all the way through the creature, hardly needing to exert any force as Yang's kick had been enough. The Nobody shuddered from the attack as it stared without eyes at Weiss, who bore a grin of confidence in return. She elegantly pulled her weapon from the Nobody's chest before driving it back in through the center of the Nobody's head. With one final shudder the monster exploded into the same sparkles the group had now grown accustomed to.

Yang dropped to the floor with a thud as she landed on her feet. Roxas's eyebrows had risen as he looked between the two girls, surprised they had acted so swiftly and effectively together.

"What?" Weiss said in a snappy manner "Do you think we don't know what we're doing?"

"Yeah," Yang said stepping up beside them, crunching her knuckles as she did so "We're ready for anything."

The remaining Nobody looked between the remaining group as their eyes all set themselves on it. In a panicked movement, the creature turned and attempted to dart down the hallway in the fastest manner it could manage.

"No! Don't let it get away!" Roxas commanded just as he began to give chase, doing his best to close the distance between he and the hallway.

The trio chased the Nobody down the hallway and into an open clearing, rectangular in shape dropping off each side into a dark pit. Before the trio could catch up however, the Nobody vanished, seemingly warping out of existence.

"Crap." Roxas uttered as he slowed to a stop, the others just behind him.

"What does that mean?" Weiss asked not knowing the severity of the situation.

"It means-" Roxas began.

"That we're aware of your arrival now girly." Said a smooth sounding voice.

"Luxord..." Roxas grumbled, his eyes narrowing in on a figure above standing atop what resembled a patio in the open room.

"Hello Roxas." he said as four dark flames erupted from each corner of the rectangular arena they stood within. From within the darkness stepped out the confident form of Xaldin, then Saix, then Xigbar, Then Xemnas, each eying the group dangerously.

Roxas felt the pit of his stomach drop as his eyes darted back and forth before they landed on Xigbar "You're not gone?"

Xigbar chuckled "Pfft, you know there's no way I could die off screen."

"Huh?" Roxas tilted his head confused.

"Regardless of how the circumstances came to be," Xemnas began, appearing smug as if he had already won "This is how they are now."

Saix smiled and said "It's quite a pleasure having you deliver yourself straight to us."

Roxas rolled his eyes "I don't think you should be the one acting smug. I beat your ass before don't make me do it again."

Saix quickly frowned, pouting as he looked away.

"You've lost Roxas, you may speak as vulgar as you'd like but face the facts. You haven't the slightest chance against us with your puny friends." Xemnas spoke calmly.

"But we can try!" Yang roared before launching herself at the man, drawing back a fist as she did so. She closed the distance in less than an instant, but before she could throw her punch, she felt the back of his hand strike her cheek in a fluent motion. She spun on her heal from the force, before collapsing on the ground.

"Get back fool." he said rubbing his pimp slapping hand.

Roxas and Weiss each roared as they too charged the man, attempting to avenge their fallen friend. The two were both soon spinning in place however as a single back hand struck each in consecutive order. Roxas lost his footing at the same time Weiss did, rubbing his face as a hand print started to form while lying on his back.

"Now do you see how helpless you're situation is?" Xemnas spoke confidently as he stared down on the trio. The rest of the remaining members of the Organization began to close in on the young teens before an unprompted dark corridor suddenly formed on the other side of the platform. This drew the members attention as they all looked over in unison, still hovering over the three teens.

Jumping out of the portal cam Demyx, pointing a finger as he called out dramatically "Stop Right there!"

"Demyx?" Xigbar asked confused "What are you doing?"

"Saving my buddy Roxas! I've had a change of heart in prison and now I'm a good guy!"

"...But you're like, super weak dude." Loxord spoke in a matter of fact way.

"I may be!" the blonde admitted "but they aren't! He said as two more figures emerged out of the corridor that had yet to close. Roxas recognized one of the figures as Ozpin with a Keyblade firmly gripped in his hand, the other was a woman of a pale complexion and intimidating dark black eyes with red orbs substituting as her pupils. She too held a Keyblade in her hand.

"We're here to save you Roxas!" the silver haired Professor exclaimed.

"Why... do you have a Keyblade?" Roxas asked confused.

"And who is 'We'?" Xemnas exclaimed equally confused.

"This is Salem!" he exclaimed gesturing to the pale looking lady "She was an old friend that I forgot because of amnesia but now remember and she was evil but now she is good because she was good the whole time really but pretended to be bad so that Beacon could train strong people to fight evil like you!" he said pointed the tip of his blade towards Xemnas.

"but like, why tho." Yang said peeling her eyes and raising a hand of annoyance.

"And... your keyblades?" asked Roxas again.

"Right sorry." he said smiling "Me and her were apart of the original Keyblade masters like Ventus who looks an awful lot like you Roxas and Aqua and Terra and are both Keyblade masters but I forgot because you know the amnesia thing I told you about."

"huh. Well that checks out with me." Roxas admitted.

"No matter." Xemnas chuckled "Two more will make no difference."

Ozpin grinned "Two may not make a difference, but how about a whole school's worth?"

"What?!" Xemnas exclaimed in shock before a sea of students came flooding out of the darkness each wielding their very own Key blade.

Fear built up in Xemnas's eyes just before he released a girlish scream. The five members of Organization XIII each curled up in their own version of the fetal position on the ground as the students quickly surrounded them, beating them senseless with their new found Keyblades.

Xigbar shot up a hand that could only barely be seen due to the number of Beacon's finest surrounding him "Nooooo! I can't die on screen! Someone toss me over the edge! Gaaaaaah!"

Roxas stood and gestured to the kids currently stomping on Saix's face and exclaimed "Okay so like why do they all have Keyblades!?"

Ozpin smiled as he folded his hands behind his back "They are all worthy Roxas.

Roxas frowned deeply as he stared down at his own Oblivion and Oathkeeper. He through the two weapons off the edge in frustration.

"Roxas!" called out a very familiar voice.

The teen turned his head and saw Ruby exiting the darkness and running straight towards him.

"Ruby?" he called out in shock just before she jumped into his arms.

She gripped him tightly and said "I awoke and couldn't find you. When Ozpin told me what you had tried to do for me I-" her words were cut off as suddenly her head jerked back and she was pulled away "Ow! Ow! My hair!" she exclaimed in anguish.

"I don't know if you realized but this is a Weiss x Roxas fanfic! Do you even read the reviews?"

"What?" Ruby protested "But I-"

"I don't care! I brought out the humanity in him! Get lost!" she said tossing the girl straight into the pile of students wailing on Xaldin's now crying form.

Ruby called out "NOOOOO!" as she slowly sank into the sea of her fellow students.

"Actually I have some people for you to meet."Ozpin said with a smile. Through the same corridor came two figures. One was a young woman with vibrant blue hair and the other appeared identical to Roxas.

"This is Aqua and Ventus." Ozpin stated.

"Nice to meet you." said the woman before the other Darted past them and pulled a trampled form of Ruby out from the students she had been thrown into.

He held her in her arms and said "I saw you being trampled and moved as fast as I could, are you okay?"

The girl slowly opened her eyes before sparkles could be seen "Roxas?"

He shook his head "No Ventus."

She smiled "I think I'm doing just fine now." and cupped his cheek in her hand.

Suddenly a dark corridor of Darkness erupted and a man stepped out with yellow eyes and a bald head.

"I am Xehanort! Bow down to me Organization XIII and- oh jeez." he stopped looking at the severe beating Luxord was receiving as a student drove his keyblade straight into the man's... vulnerable area.

"I uh- think I've got the wrong place... I'm just gonna go I think..."

"SICK HIM BOYS!" Ozpin roared pointing his keyblade at the man.

A group that was currently forcing Xemnas to scream 'mommy' peeled off to chase down the new addition.

The man screamed a familiarly sounding feminine scream as he too was overwhelmed by the sheer number of students.

Blake walked over to Roxas, Weiss and Yang and said "Hey guys I'm trying to be more involved going forward, so I'm gonna stand here and be in the scene."

The two nodded.

Suddenly a third corridor erupted and out stepped the man Roxas had nearly been defeated by, the silver haired boy.

"You!" Roxas exclaimed as he prepared for the conflict ahead.

The man lifted a hand "Nah dood it isn't like that. Just stopped by to say that uh, well this is embarrassing. We were able to wake up Sora without you so like, it's cool now." he turned and left through the same portal he had entered in.

"huh." Roxas said dropping his guard "Not sure what that was all about but cool."

"So is that it?" Blake asked.

"I...think so." Roxas nodded.

"Nothing else we need to do?" Weiss asked.

"Nope. I don't think so. Although I'm pretty sure the reviews will say otherwise." Yang sighed.

"Pffft nooo! This is the perfect ending admit it!" Weiss exclaimed.

"Well, I'm glad it's over." Roxas smiled.

Another dark corridor erupted and out stepped Axel beaming- "My name is Lea now!" oh sorry, Lea stepped out beaming as he waved at Roxas "Hi buddy! I'm alive now! Got it memorized?

"Ah sweet dude glad to see you safe." Roxas said "Sorry for killing ya."

"It's cool."Lea said clapping a hand on his shoulder "We're good now." he said.

Ozpin suddenly saw something he didn't like and called out "Nora! He is not food! Stop biting him!"

"Nora! Stop that!"

"Nora!"

"Nora!"

Nora suddenly sat up in bed, Ren standing along her bedside her with a hand on her arm having just woken her.

"Nora," he whispered "You were dreaming and saying a lot of weird things. It was really loud and woke me up."

"Oh," she said, a smile beginning to form on her face "Yeah it was weird, like There were these guys in black coats and I was biting a guy and-"

Ren held up a hand "In the morning you can tell me. Right now I'm tired." The young man quickly climbed back into his bed after turning the light off.

"Goodnight Ren!" Cheered Nora.

"Goodnight Nora..." Ren grumbled.

 _AN: Haha that was a lot of fun to write. If you hadn't realized it by now that was my little, April fools chapter I thought of writing yesterday. I hope you all had a fun time reading it and hopefully there was more funny than there was cringe. I don't know if I should leave this chapter in the story (probably wont, but hey if you all think I should leave it in I'll concede.) anyway I guess this will mostly just serve as a review corner so lets get on with it! Also big thanks to Brave kid for letting me use one of his ideas for this chapter! And ps there is no way that the next chapter is the last chapter in case anyone believed that from the AN in the beginning. Just something to mislead you all lol._

 _All reviews will be responded to via PM!_


	19. Chapter 19: The Castle That Never Was

Before Roxas could answer any further the nearest Nobody warped it's body so that it's torso and bottom half were switched in place. The creature spun rapidly moments after moving its bizarrely long arms and legs in a propeller like fashion as it quickly approached Roxas in this fashion. The boy seemed hardly deterred as he took a few steps back to avoid the dangerously spinning limbs before lifting his OathKeeper with one arm.

"Firaga." he spoke calmly resulting in a large orb of flame launching itself from the tip of his blade. Weiss thought at first the boy had missed when the attack completely missed the rapidly approaching Nobody. Only a moment after did she see what he was aiming for as the attack struck floor directly center of the group before erupting in a massive explosion that engulfed the group of nobodies in their entirety.

"Well, that was anticlimactic," Yang said dismissively as she dropped her guard placing her hands at her hips.

To say the girl was surprised would be an understatement as suddenly one of the Nobodies came spinning out of the flames towards her.

Releasing a startled yelp the blonde leaped back barely avoiding the monster's attack as it's limbs slashed at the space she had been only a short moment before.

"Be careful!" Roxas shouted in concern as he watched the scene unfold, he darted forward, placing himself between the Nobody who had attacked Yang and his friends. He waited for only a second for the creature to come to a stop before slamming the Oblivion into what would have been its head and following up the attack with the Oathkeeper which slashed across the creature's chest in a diagonal line.

The force sent the nobody hurtling back, but it wasn't long before it rose again, swaying back and forth as it had only moments before.

"They're much stronger than Heartless. It's gonna take a little more to take these down." he warned before engaging the Nobody who had attacked him before, stopping it's spin by raising both of his keyblades in a fashion that blocked both it's legs and arms in one motion. The Nobody hung dazed for several moments allowing for Roxas to swat the monster into the air before raising the Oathkeeper into the air.

"Thundaga!" he roared as the sky above the Nobody turned gray and a massive bolt of lightning descended from above in an instant striking the creature in its entirety.

The Nobody trembled from electricity racing through its body before dissipating into a sparkling burst that quickly faded away.

Roxas readied himself for the oncoming set of Nobody, each spinning in the same manner the other had. Before the group could reach however a swirling set of symbols formed along the surface beneath them before a large mini glacier of ice erupted from the ground, striking the group with an incredible force. Each were sent into the air where Yang was waiting. Having used her shot gauntlets to adjust her flight trajectory as she flew towards these creatures she clotheslined one with a right hook, bringing it along for the ride just before coming to a sudden halt by burying her foot into the next. She brought her knee to her chest just before launching off of the Nobody while still carrying the one from before. She roared as she made contact with one of the few walls available, driving the Nobody in her hand head first into the hard surface. The impact was enough for the nobody to burst into the sparkling residue the first had.

The Nobody which Yang had launched herself off of was driven spiraling to the ground where a very particular ice princess was waiting for it. She drove her rapier all the way through the creature, hardly needing to exert any force as Yang's kick had been enough. The Nobody shuddered from the attack as it stared without eyes at Weiss, who bore a grin of confidence in return. She elegantly pulled her weapon from the Nobody's chest before driving it back in through the center of the Nobody's head. With one final shudder the monster exploded into the same sparkles the group had now grown accustomed to.

Yang dropped to the floor with a thud as she landed on her feet. Roxas's eyebrows had risen as he looked between the two girls, surprised they had acted so swiftly and effectively together.

"What?" Weiss said in a snappy manner "Do you think we don't know what we're doing?"

"Yeah," Yang said stepping up beside them, crunching her knuckles as she did so "We're ready for anything."

The remaining Nobody looked between the remaining group as their eyes all set themselves on it. In a panicked movement, the creature turned and attempted to dart down the hallway in the fastest manner it could manage.

"No! Don't let it get away!" Roxas commanded just as he began to give chase, doing his best to close the distance between he and the hallway. Two gunshot blasts echoed behind him in unison and to his surprise it was Yang to shoot past him with her arms dangling behind her. She was behind the Nobody in what felt like and instant before connecting a right hook into the side of it's cross shaped head which smacked it against the wall with a 'CRACK!'. The Nobody slipped down the wall, dazed but not defeated as Yang lifted her leg and stomped down on its already frail shape, causing a mess of sparkles to explode around her boot.

She grinned satisfied by her work as she looked back and smiled at the quickly approaching form of Roxas and Weiss " How'd you like that eh?"

Roxas nodded "Nice job Yang. I don't know what would have happened if it had managed to get away..." he said before indicating with a finger that they needed to be quiet. The trio stepped lightly down the long hallway in silence, anticipating what lie in wait for them at the end of the poorly lit tunnel. Weiss raced up so that she stood directly beside Roxas before whispering "So, hey What exactly is a 'Nobody'? I know you've mentioned it before, but I still don't know what exactly that is."

Roxas answered without looking towards her, his eyes focused on the light ahead as well as the task ahead "A Nobody is the empty shell, left behind when a heartless takes a person's heart. They typically wander aimlessly, they have no reason to be, no reason to exist. But Organization XIII has taken them in. So now the Nobodies listen to them." Roxas paused for a moment, seemingly thinking over his next statement before he said "The stronger the person's heart determines how strong their Nobody is. The stronger the person, the tougher the Nobody."

"Oh... but wait…. didn't you…?Did you call yourself a-" before her sentence was completed the trio stepped out of the tunnel, partially blinded by the light from walking in the dark for so long."

They stepped out hesitantly onto a platformed roughly the size and shape of half a basketball court. Looking around them, both Yang and Weiss could see that this was a dead end, with no outlet available for them to proceed.

"Where is this?"Weiss questioned before the platform shifted beneath her feet. In response the girl released a short 'yelp' that made both Roxas and Yang jump in surprise. Soon the platform started to ascend, pillars of light surrounded the edge of the platform, appearing almost like it was the cause of the rising motion.

After several seconds of realization set in Yang suddenly released a loud bellowing laugh.

"And just what is it that you are laughing at?" Weiss asked with an annoyed tone.

"What do you think? You got scared by an elevator!" Yang uttered in between laughter "You were like 'EEEK!'" Yang mocked before returning to laughter.

"It's called the Crooked Ascension..." Roxas murmured as they continued up

"It's not like we're not all on edge right now!" Weiss exclaimed ignoring Roxas and trying to defend herself "How could I have known something structured like this would be a lift?"

Yang held her grin "You still got scared by an elevator."

Weiss rolled her eyes before crossing her arms "Whatever."

Roxas scowled at the two girls "You two need to take this more seriously. You have no idea how much trouble we'll be in if we get caught. Try and keep it down." he scolded.

Weiss shot him a hurt look before gesturing towards Yang in a fashion that clearly said 'she started it'.

Roxas shook his head in response "I don't care. Just please, I don't want us getting caught by anyone...okay?"

Weiss glared at him before releasing a 'hmph!' and stepping over towards the edge of the rapidly rising platform, choosing to stare off into the spectacles of light instead of engage with her companions any longer.

After several seconds of awkward silence, Yang walked over to stand by Roxas before asking "So uh, what exactly would we be facing up against here if we were caught?"

"Let's just hope that doesn't happen." the boy answered dismissively, clearly agitated.

"C'mon now, we should plan for the worst case scenario, y'know, just in case."

Roxas sighed "What do you want to know?"

"Well..."Yang took a moment to consider her question "Like,What are we up against? I know you said that Organization members are all out of our league, and it's clear from you and that bastard Axel-"Roxas flinched at the name before frowning deeply as she continued "That your words have at least some truth to them. So who could we possibly be dealing with? And how do they like to fight?"

Roxas gave the question some thought before forming his answer "Well the person we're most likely to be found by if we are caught is Saïx. He's basically the second of command here and usually doesn't go on missions, so it's a safe bet that he's still here at the castle." Roxas paused, reflecting on the time he had fought the man before continuing his statement "He hits hard and fast. He uses a claymore as his weapon, and he uses it well. A hit from that thing will feel like a bus just struck you going at full speed, so try not to get hit if you can avoid it."

"Sounds like you've fought him before." he nodded "So do you have any tips for taking him down?"

Roxas paused again as he reflected on just how he had managed to get by during their exchange "He has a tendency to over exert himself in battle, he can take a hit and not even flinch, but he does feel it, so I suggest a waiting game. Do your best to avoid his initial charge, take a shot here and there when you see your opportunity, but don't get too greedy with what you think you can get away with against him. Play it safe, and hopefully, you'll find your chance to take him down."

Yang grinned at his answer "You know you make a pretty good coach blondie."

Roxas found a smile gracing his lips as the platform slowly came to a stop, the pillars of light surrounding the platform dissipated and opened up to a long pathway which fell away on either side revealing a massive dome like space all around them. Past that was a long corridor not unlike the one they had initially entered to get here.

Weiss motioned to continue before Roxas said "Wait."

She turned and looked at him with an annoyed expression "Please, don't be doing the whole 'you two should go back' routine again okay? It's getting old." she said clearly exhibiting attitude from his comment on her earlier.

Appearing ignorant to the annoyance in her tone he shook his head "No, we don't need to get off here. That's to the training room. We need to get to the Gray Area."

Almost as if responding to his words the Crooked Ascension shifted and began it's acceleration upward again, the pillars of light surrounding them once more.

"So..." Yang began as she turned back to Roxas "Are there any others that we should be worried about?"

Roxa sighed as he came to his conclusion "Honestly Saïx is the only one I truly ever have had to fight. The others that could be threats are Luxord and Xaldin. Both are Nobodies I only ever saw fighting heartless, and both have fighting styles I don't truly understand." Weiss walked over, her interest suddenly rising as he spoke "Xaldin is able to wield an unreasonable amount of spears at one time which makes it hard to get in close when fighting him. If I were to take a guess on how he could be taken down, it would be by projectiles... or maybe it would be finding a way to halt all of his spears at once? I don't know about him, he's dangerous for sure."

"And what about this Lucord guy?" Yang inquired.

"Luxord." Roxas corrected "He's the weirdest fighter I ever saw battling a heartless. It's like he can bend space or something. He likes to use cards as his main weapon, but that won't help you. Honestly? I don't have a clue how to take down that man."

Weiss nodded inquisitively before asking "I see... and is that it? Are there any others that we should concern ourselves with?"

"Well..." Roxas admitted "The leader of Organization XIII, Xemnas." Weiss and Yang both watched as a stern look washed over his expression "He has silver hair and deep yellow eyes. If you see him. You run." Weiss and Yang both felt a cold chill run down their spine as he finished his sentence.

Just as his final word left his lips the Crooked Ascension came to a slow stop as it had before, but this time walls surrounded their platform which opened up into a slightly wider dark corridor.

"Let's go." he said before briskly walking off of the platform and down the hallway. For the second time that day Weiss and Yang shot each other a nervous look before quickly following behind the young Nobody.

The corridor was long and dark, continuing on for what felt like eons without any source of distinguishable light. The group walked in silence for the majority of that time, Roxas staying several paces ahead of the two girls as he stepped with urgency.

Weiss slowed her step so that she was walking just beside Yang, allowing Roxas to remain a couple yards ahead in pace. She leaned over and whispered into Yang's ear "Hey, so... you know how he described to us what a 'Nobody' is?"

Yang nodded "Yeah, creepy stuff. I'm having a tough time believing it all myself, glad we didn't get to find out first hand against those heartless."

"Right right right, but there's something else he didn't mention that I think is important."

Yang tilted her head "How would you know more about Nobodies? I mean this is his world."

She shook her head "Just listen okay? Roxas and I have had several long talks and he's told me things." she briefly turned to look towards Roxas to see if he had noticed their conversation. If he had, he hadn't turned to address them. Deciding to proceed, Weiss said "Roxas told me once before that he didn't have a heart Yang."

The blonde abruptly stopped in her tracks upon receiving the news. Weiss had to usher her along to get the girl walking again before the boy noticed.

"What? But that doesn't make any sense... are you saying what I think you're saying?"

she nodded "I think Roxas believes that he's like those things. That he's a 'Nobody'...in fact, I can't remember specifically, but I think he's called himself that before."

The two girls went quiet as they turned their attention to cast their questioning gazes towards Roxas.

Soon the group noticed a doorway coming up on the right side noticed a doorway on the right hand side of the wall coming up. Roxas stopped to look to the girls before pulling up his hood and gesturing for them to do the same. After doing so, the young man quietly stepped to the lip of the door frame, just out of view from whoever could be on the other side. Leaning over, the boy took a peek at the contents of the room before releasing a sigh of relief and walking past the room with ease. The two girls followed suit, allowing them to look inside as they stepped past and continued down the seemingly never ending hallway. The room was almost entirely gray with almost no contents within aside from a single equally gray bed and a single wide window that revealed the moon of Kingdom Hearts in its entirety.

"These must be their bedrooms "Whispered Yang as they passed another room appearing exactly the same.

The group passed several more before Roxas came to an abrupt halt just outside of one. He stared into the room for a long time, an unreadable expression on his face as the girls scrunched their eyebrows in confusion "You okay?" asked Yang. Looking in, Neither Weiss nor Yang could find any trace of something or someone out of the ordinary by their standard. Just a gray, uncomfortable looking bed sitting alongside an equal in size window.

Roxas frowned before nodding "I'm fine." and continuing down the hallway. Weiss took one last look into the room as Yang passed her, and found the only bit of color she had seen since entering the castle. Resting alongside the pillow of the bed were several sea shells, each beautiful and unique in their own way.

"Weiss." Roxas quietly shouted down the hallway after her drawing her attention away from the sea shells.

"Coming." she quickly responded before darting down the hallway after him. They passed only two more rooms but Weiss noticed the boy scowl as they passed the last. Taking a moment to look inside as she did before, she found more sea shells similar in color and vibrancy as the previous room he had shown a reaction to. Yang and Roxas both passed her, seemingly unaware of her pause at the doorway. Her eyes followed the two heading down the hall before shifting her attention back towards the sea shells resting on the bed.

Curiosity overcame the girl in this moment, beckoning her into the room as she approached the colorful sea shells. She delicately lifted a shell to her ear, feeling a tug at her lips that soon transitioned into a smile as she listened to the sounds of the ocean.

"Weiss?!" she heard the panicked voice of Yang echo from down the hall.

The girl spun on her heel and opened her mouth to respond before something else caught her eye. In the corner of the room, out of sight from outside of the doorway was a small, simple gray desk. This isn't what caught her attention however as her gaze fell on a simple brown book resting center in the desk.

Weiss forgot about her friends in this moment, her curiosity drowning out the sounds of Roxas's voice as he too called out her name. She Approached the desk and picked up the notebook gingerly. It held no special properties that she could noticed, just a simple white paged notebook with a simple brown exterior and little design.

She could now hear several footsteps racing down the hallway towards her, but that did not stop the girl from opening the book up to the first page where two words made her eyes grow wide.

Written in large letters, as if spelled by someone only just getting the grasp of writing, were the words 'Roxas's Diary'.

She could hear the footsteps closing in on her room now and quickly unzipped her jacket and slipped the book into a pocket within the interior of the coat before zipping back up. Roxas appeared at the door frame a second later, looking out of breath from traveling as fast as his feet could take him. His eyes revealed a terrified expression before they laid to rest on Weiss's form and eased.

"W-Weiss," he spoke trying to catch his breath "What... what are you...?" His eyes peeled as he looked towards the girl questioningly.

Yang emerged just behind him seconds later appearing equally out of breath "Geez Blondie, you 'gasp' you run too fast!"

Roxas ignored the girl's comment before stepping into the room himself still staring at Weiss suspiciously. He pulled his gaze away briefly to scan the room before his eyes fell on the desk. Weiss and Yang watched as a frown formed at his lips as he stared on at the desk, or more so, the empty spot on the desk.

"Sorry Roxas, I just noticed the pretty seashells and wanted to take a closer look." Weiss said still not technically lying.

"You didn't find a... never mind." Roxas uttered as he turned and left the room. Yang gave Weiss a suspicious look before following behind the young man. Weiss followed in step, feeling guilty, but knowing that the small brown book currently pinned to her chest would have some much needed answers to the questions more recently plaguing the girl.

. After silently walking for another minute the trio emerged at the end of the hallway, opening up to a large room shaped like a semi-circle. On either side of them were gray lounge sofas and chairs, appearing almost brand new as if they hadn't been used in a long time. Ahead was a long glass panel that ran curved covering the entire wall. Yang stepped towards it to look outside but found nothing but blackness as her view.

Weiss began to join Yang when she noticed Roxas had yet to step into the room. His gaze was affixed downward on a point just next to where the hallway began, as if he had been expecting something to be sitting on the floor next to him.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked returning to his side.

"The Moogle... he was supposed to be here..." Roxas whispered as he continued to stared at the floor.

"The... Moogle?" Weiss repeated confused by the strange sounding term.

"He was who I was going to get the elixir from..." He said, a look of defeat washing over his expression. A solemn frown found itself on Roxas's lips as the boy slowly drug his feet over to the couch before sitting down.

"I don't know where else I can get one." he said resting his elbows on his knees as he let his head hang low.

"Wait, what?" Yang exclaimed finally hearing what the boy had been saying. She stomped over to where Roxas was sitting defeated on the sofa and asked "So are you telling me we came all the way here for nothing!?"

"...I thought he would be here... I'm sorry."

"No don't be sorry!" she said with her anger quickly rising "My sister just lost whatever little chance she had of waking up, and you think I'm just gonna let you get away with a 'sorry'?"

Her hand shot out and quickly grabbed the boy by his collar, with a tug she pulled him up to his feet, bringing them face to face as she roared "I want you to start thinking about how we can get anoth-"

Yang's word's suddenly caught in her chest as she stared at the two slow trickle of tears running down each of his cheeks.

They stood face to face awkwardly as Yang released her grip on his shirt and Roxas sighed, looking down and shielding his expression with his hair.

"I want there to be another way. I really do. I just... I just don't see it. I can't remember if there is another way to get an elixir."

"Oh." Yang said as the fire inside her chest diminished. It was then that she realized that the boy in front of her wasn't giving up, he was at a lost, and it was hitting him just as hard. She thought all this time that he just didn't care as much as she did about her little sister, that neither he or anybody could take this matter as serious as she could. But looking into the sadness that ensued from realizing that he couldn't bring back the potion that was supposed to help Ruby, Yang realized that she couldn't have been more wrong.

Roxas fell back onto the sofa once more. After making this realization Yang slowly moved her feet to beside Roxas before plopping down herself. She stared off towards the wall, also trying to think of a solution that simply wasn't there.

Weiss sat on a lounge sofa adjacent to them, looking between the two defeated looking faces with an concerned look.

"There's no where we could check?" She briskly asked, attempting to spark any shred of hope that could have still remained between the two solemn expressions.

"No where that would make sense." he admitted "We could search for the moogle somewhere else. Maybe he's found a place down in the World That Never Was, but that would mean we're just blindly looking."

"Okay... perhaps there is another solution you haven't thought of just yet?" Weiss said frowning at the first idea.

"Well..." Roxas mumbled before sitting up straight "It's a long shot but we could check the other organization member's rooms to see if they would have bought an extra and stored one away."

"Brilliant!" Weiss exclaimed excitedly jumping to her feet. She almost immediately began marching back towards the hallway towards the un-investigated rooms before Roxas could continue.

"But-" he began "It's unlikely. I'm pretty sure that I was the moogle's only customer... I never saw anyone else buying anything from him."

Yang was the next to rise "Come on, we have to at least check."

Roxas sighed before looking up at Yang's returning determined expression. It only took one look for him to nod and return to his feet as well.

"You're right. Let's go."

Weiss smiled as she quickly started down the hall, entering the dark hallway with vigor as she lead this new charge. Her footsteps were quickly halted and a short startled yelp called out from her voice moments after beginning down the hallway.

Yang and Roxas shot each other and equally concerned look before the two darted in the direction of the scream.

The two stopped however as they saw Weiss taking slow steps back into the gray area towards them, staring nervously into the dark hallway where another set of separate footsteps could be heard.

"Why, what's all this talk of an elixir hm?" said a masculine voice with a slight British accent.

Stepping out from the darkness was a tall man with short platinum blonde hair and piercing electric blue eyes. He bore a well trimmed goatee and silver piercings on either ear while also wearing the signature Organization XIII black coat.

"Now what a sight to see here. I never thought in a million years I'd stumble upon two strangers wearing the Organization's coat and a traitor from a time long past."

Yang readied her shot gauntlets with a sudden movement of her arms and the golden gloves encased her arms as they normally did. Weiss drew her Rapier and stood with the weapon raised to chest level ready to strike.

Roxas too was quick to summon his weapons as the Oathkeeper and Oblivion each appeared in either hand. A nervous sweat ran down his cheek but his eyes bore that of focus and determination as he glared at what was once his ally.

"Well now," the man feigned worry "It does seem that there is a lot of hostility being shoved towards me."

"You're outnumbered Luxord." Yang and Weiss both peeled their eyes as Roxas spoke, their memory of the name resurfacing "Walk away or we'll be forced to hurt you."

The man smiled in response to the comment "Oh Roxas, you see, that's where you're wrong."

Yang sneered before commanding "What? You think we won't hurt you?"

"Oh I'm sure you three will do your best to. But that's not quite what I was saying."

A familiar warping sound emanated from behind the group prompting the trio to look back in concern. Emerging from swirls of darkness were three Nobodies appearing identical in design to the trio they had fought before.

The Nobodies attacked immediately, whirling around like miniature tornadoes with such speed that all but Roxas leaped back from the danger. The young Nobody held his ground by raising both keyblades at one time and stopping both spinning Nobodies in their tracks like a stick through a bicycle wheel. The two creatures lurched forward, stumbling from their own momentum as Roxas placed the tip of either blade to the chest of each Nobody.

"Aero!" he called out with a determination that sent the two monsters flying back and cracking against the window plain.

The last Nobody darted forth, trying to use its allies as a distraction as it propelled itself at Roxas. The creature failed to reach its target however as Yang appeared just to it's right with a hook already sailing towards it's head. The resulting collision was enough to knock the Nobody off course sending it crashing into a chair sitting in the corner of the room. The piece of furniture immediately buckled from the impact.

The two recovering Nobodies were met with large shards of ice piercing straight through their chests. The two bodies went limp before they fell to the floor and quickly vanished from sight. Weiss lowered her rapier from the two dispatched Nobodies before darting towards the third only to have Yang appear halfway and bring down a deciding fist on the creature's skull. A sickening crack echoed throughout the room as the metallic gauntlet met the frail frame of the Nobody which immediately went limp before dissipating.

"Well well," Luxord said with raised eyebrows as the group turned back towards him "It does appear that the friends you've brought with you have a small shred of skill.". Weiss and Yang stood side by side glaring daggers at the man as Roxas stood his ground just a few yards in front.

"You can't win this fight Luxord. Leave." Roxas ordered not daring to take his eyes off the man.

"hm." he said a frown forming on his lips "Perhaps you're correct that I wouldn't be able to take you three on my own..." he waved his hand dismissively, as if he were expressing an unwillingness to agree.

Roxas heard the familiar sound of Weiss's startled 'EEK!' and spun around with wide eyes. Swirling around the two girls were what appeared to be massive playing cards, floating vertically as an uncountable amount made a circle around the girls. Each was at least 6 feet in length and bore the Organization's symbol on their backs.

"What!? What is this?" sounded the distressed voice of Yang.

"Where did these come from?" Weiss asked as she raised her Rapier readying herself for whatever was to come. Roxas darted in their direction as the massive playing cards began to spin so rapidly that he could no longer see the girls within.

When he finally reached the cage of cards the cards suddenly slowed before trailing off in a straight line, revealing no one behind them.

Roxas's head whipped back and forth as he attempted to locate his friends "Weiss! Yang! Where are you!?" he listened closely hoping to hear a voice call back to him, but no sound came.

After having no success he spun around and roared with intense ferocity "Where did you take them!" his eyes bore daggers that sunk into the Nobody still standing casually at the entrance..

"Oh Roxas, that is none of your concern as of right now. What you really should be worrying about-" he interrupted his sentence by throwing a single card at the boy which Roxas hadn't seen in his hand prior. It quickly enlarged as it sailed through the air to the point that it dwarfed Roxas in size.

The young teen rolled out of the way only for the card to halt itself mid-flight and spin rapidly, changing course back towards Roxas once more. This time the boy decided to hold his ground however as he brought both of the keyblades together in order to deflect the strange projectile. It began to grind against the two blades for a short time before it's spin slowed and the card dissipated into nothing.

The younger Nobody turned his attention back to Luxord as the man continued to speak "Oh sorry, I hope I didn't startle the little traitor " His words were laced with venom "What I have been meaning to say is that you should forget about your little 'friends' because you're fight is with me."

* * *

Yang and Weiss saw the cards slow to a stop before wandering away leaving them completely untouched.

Yang's eyes tracked the cards as they moved away, but soon noticed something else.

"Where... are we?" the two girls questioned in unison.

They were no longer in the gray room but rather a large spherical room completely empty of furniture or any other item. The room was a deep dark gray indicating to the girls that they were still in fact within The Castle That Never Was and had a massive window that encompassed the entirety of the far wall. Peering outside revealed the massive form of Kingdom Hearts, as if the moon were just outside of the window.

"Where's Roxas?" Yang asked.

"Probably still with that weird guy... what was his name? Luxord?" Weiss scratched her head before realization washed over her face "He's the one member who Roxas didn't know how to fight! We need to get to him!"

"But where can we...wait- there!" Yang pointed out as they turned to examine the structure behind them. There was a high rising elaborately designed fence that curved into a hallway to the left of the room where Weiss was pointing towards.

"That looks like the only way to go. Let's see if we can make it back to Roxas in time to help." The platinum haired girl started towards the exit.

"...but we have no idea where we are, we could get lost." Yang protested.

The heir to the Schnee dust company shook her head "It doesn't matter, we're lost already. We explored a lot of the castle already. We just need to find where ever that strange elevator thing is and we'll know the rest of the way."

"You mean the thing you got scared of?" Yang snickered.

Weiss rolled her eyes "Whatever, come now, we need to move quickly, there's no telling how far the battle has progressed so far."

The two quickly began to jog towards the hallway which curved to the right and out of view.

"I wonder why we were warped to somewhere so random." Yang mentioned as the two girls reached the entrance to the hallway.

"Obviously so that he could fight Roxas alone. It didn't matter where he sent us as long as we were far enough away to not be a problem."

"Actually..." a third voice called out, deep and masculine sounding from down the corridor.

The two girls jumped as the voice spoke, before footsteps began down the hall towards them. Weiss and Yang slowly retreated back into the room, staring down the entrance with nervous expressions.

Emerging from the hall was a cold looking figure, his hair long and blue with bangs that ran down his shoulders. He bore a stern expression as his amber eyes fell onto the two girls in front of him. A scar resembling an X centered itself across the man's face as he frowned deeply at Weiss and Yang.

"His chosen destination for you two was not random. He was sending you two, to me." He summoned his weapon, a massive Claymore blade designed to resemble the Organization logo which had been spread out across the castle profusely. It was a blue tinted silver weapon with a long white handle that started the enormous blade that spread out from that point.

The man swung the intimidating weapon into the ground with a resounding slam that echoed through the room.

"I'm the second in command. Number VII of Organization XIII and as a result it is my duty to eliminate intruders such as yourselves."

Yang snarled back "Go ahead and try punk!" as she raised her fists readying herself with Weiss readying herself by drawing her blade.

Saïx's frown deepened "I'll make your ends swift."

* * *

 _ **AN:**_ _Alright fellas here's the real chapter for you all! I'm glad that you all found my little joke to be entertaining to some degree. Now please note that anything that was said in the previous joke chapter was just that, a joke. So that means that nothing should be considered foreshadowing for a later event, Ventus isn't going to suddenly revive and become a new love interest, Salem isn't going to abruptly become a good guy. And no, to all of your dismay that didn't exclusively sign off the shipping of Weiss X Roxas. I just thought it would be funny for that to be addressed in the april fools chapter since the reviews seem to center around that topic so frequently lol. Anyhow This chapter was interesting to write as midway I found a new type of music that seemingly fuels me to write much easier. Soft piano melodies were the constant source for this chapter, and helped me pump out four pages in a single day, which is rare for me nowadays. Also, upon suggestion from a very specific fan (shout out to Nexus4123) I chose to push this chapter through google docs as a means to better catch my grammar and spelling mistakes. There were a sizeable amount that was picked up, and I even peeled through this chapter much more carefully than usually, but alas I know that there will definitely be some mistake that one of you will com across. So this is an apology for that ahead of time as I'm still only one guy(have not gotten a beta yet) and doing this for the fun of it lol (cut me a break! ;)._

 _All reviews will be responded to via PM!_


	20. Chapter 20: A Difficult Game To Win

_**AN:**_ _This is another big boy to make up for the late chapter.I actually finished this yesterday but there were just so many reviews to get through! enjoy!_

Roxas dived out of the way as a series of cards shot at him like machine gun fire. After rolling to his feet the boy sprung forward, becoming a black blur as he launched himself at Luxord.

"Where are they!?" he cried out in a blind rage before unleashing a powerful ax swing with his Oblivion.

The man nonchalantly lifted a hand and out of nothing appeared three massive six foot cards, the center of which stopped Roxas's attack in its tracks.

"Oh boy you are going to have to do much better than that before I'll start talking."

With a successive diagonal strike of the Oathkeeper Roxas sliced through the card which evaporated as a result. The younger Nobody darted forward then, before the two remaining cards could close the gap.

Luxord released a startled "What!?" and tried to leap back but was too slow. Before the man knew what had happened he felt Roxas's Oblivion burying itself deep into his stomach followed by a bone rattling strike to his skull from the Oathkeeper which sent him staggering back.

The man winced in pain, but he was all too familiar with the symptom as he recovered quickly and was ready as Roxas attempted to crush his ribs with a strike that whistled as it split the air. Before the Oblivion reached its destination, Luxord lifted his hand once more and Roxas was sent flying back as a trio of cards each struck the boy in rapid succession.

"Release them!" the young Nobody cried out.

"Did you honestly think I would upon _**your**_ request?"

Roxas's grip tightened as the words reached his ears. Growling, he released a loud "Fine Then! I'll just have to force it out of you!" before racing back towards the man.

"That's the spirit." his eyes peered at Roxas's approaching form with a sinister look as a smile creeped up his lips.

The boy lifted his Oathkeeper in preparation for his attack but just as he brought it down he could hear Luxord's voice emanate from all around him saying

" **Look closely."**

In the instant the words struck his ears his blade pierced through the air Luxord had just been standing in, and in his place was a set of three cards, each with their backs turned towards him.

"Enough with your games Luxord!" the young man called out irritated. He tore through the center card with ease before a strange feeling took affect. He felt his body freeze in place before the sensation in his arms and legs disappeared. His body felt rigid as he lost control of his normal movement, and he realized that his body was not longer the same shape he had once been in.

" _Am I a die!?_ " he had to think to himself in panic as he lips were no longer able to voice his opinion. He was still aware of his surroundings, although he couldn't comprehend just how as his typical sensory organs were no longer present amongst his now cube body. He watched as Luxord appeared looking rather smug as he stepped out of the left card still intact.

Roxas watched in confusion and shock as the man stepped forward calmly smiling down on him "Seems like your not very good at the game."

" _What?!_ " Roxas thought just as a trio of massive cards each collided with his cube spinning with the speed of helicopter blades. Although he no longer possessed his usual shape and could no longer distinguish what part of his body was being struck, that didn't stop the pain from being any less explosive. Waves of pain rippled through his nervous system as the onslaught of razor sharp cards repeatedly cut into him, swaying back and forth as they struck him from all angles.

Unable to release a scream, Roxas's cube trembled from the repeated punishment before he felt something within himself force the cube to dart out from the array of cards, rolling as it did so. Roxas's paused a moment trying to understand exactly what he had just done to make the cube move but didn't have the time as Luxord called out "Cards!".

Peering back with his non-existent eye the boy noted that two more cards were whistling through the air as the massive projectiles moved straight towards him. Instinct took over once more and Roxas pushed with all of his might towards one side of the cube and was sent tumbling across the floor, discombobulating him, but moving him just barely out of the way of the two cards which flew by harmlessly.

Finally understanding what he had done, Roxas was quick to push against the cube again, this time away from Luxord as the die tumbled towards the window. Roxas repeated this action several times as the blonde attempted to chase him down with his deadly cards, but each time Roxas was just barely able to avoid them.

The boy felt like he was panting from the strain of shoving his block body across the floor, although he couldn't understand how he would be. Just as he prepared himself to avoid yet another onslaught of cards he felt the feeling in his arms and legs return, the sensation of proper eyesight and ears washed back to his senses and he realized he was now standing like normal facing Luxord.

"W-what just happened?" Roxas said as he patted down his chest and legs, making sure his body had truly returned in its entirety.

Luxord scowled "Seems you transformed back before I could dispatch you." sighing he grinned "Although I wouldn't have expected you to be eliminated so easily. You've always been a clever child number XIII."

It was Roxas's turn to scowl "That's not my title anymore Luxord! And you know it!"

A frown replaced his grin as Number X said "But why Roxas? Why did you choose to abandon us?"

The younger Nobody frowned "Because I realized that Organization XIII isn't what I thought it was. I was blind but... but Xion showed me the truth."

The elder Nobody tilted his head as the name reached his ears "Now why is that name familiar? Hmmm... is that one of your friends who I dismissed?"

Roxas growled, the fire fueling his fight quickly returning "No but speaking of which you still haven't told me where they've gone!"

"Oh." the man chuckled "Don't worry, they're being well taken care of."

* * *

 _-Deeper within the Castle-_

Yang shot a look towards Weiss who was appearing equally as nervous as she. She mentally listed the man's characteristics as she thought

 _Long blue hair,_

 _An X across his face,_

 _A weird looking weapon... is that supposed to be a... Sword?_

Realization washed over her face as she began to understand who they were dealing with.

 _Saïx... but I need to make sure._

"My name is Yang Xiao Long," she said gesturing to herself before gesturing to Weiss standing adjacent to her "And this is my friend Weiss Schnee. I understand that you're here to... well... eliminate us as you put it. But I think it would only be right if we know our opponent's name before we fight."

The man's frown deepened "I've told you all I need to. There is no need to inform those who will soon be gone from this world."

Yang could hear the girl beside her ' _Gulp_ ' anxiously, but Yang didn't feel nervous, she felt angry from the disrespect she was receiving. Snarling, she shot back "I already knew your name was Saïx! I just thought I'd be a little polite! Unfortunately it seems you're missing some manners along with your supposed 'heart' now doesn't it?!"

Yang watched the man flinch at her comment and she knew she had struck a nerve.

"How did you...? Ah, Roxas, that's right. It seems he's told you a little about me has he?"

"Yeah! He told us about how to beat you too!" Yang smirked.

"Is that so?" Saïx nodded, pausing to give her words some thought before saying "You should know that despite the result of Roxas and my own battle of the past, that means nothing here. Knowing what he told you will do nothing to save you from the fate that lies ahead of you."

"Whatever you say scar face. Although by the look of you I doubt I would even need Roxas's advice to take you down. Bet I could handle you on my own." Yang gloated, bluffing as she tried to stall for time.

"Is that so?" he questioned still bearing a frown "Well then, It seems that the time for talk has passed." he crouched slightly, widening his stance as he tightened his grip on the Claymore he held behind his back.

"Yeah? Well bring it on you-!" Yang's voice caught in her chest as in an instant the man was in front of her and swinging his massive weapon straight towards her head.

"Wha-?" she mumbled under her breath as her eyes tried to comprehend the speed she had just witnessed. Thankfully her huntress training took over despite her bewilderment and the girl just barely dipped under the swing in time to avoid being decapitated.

She stepped forward towards the man cocking back a fist as her aggressive fighting style told her that she had an opening before realizing that the blade was coming back around too fast for her to even throw a punch. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the blade approaching her midsection and knew she was too close to dodge out of the way this time. Shifting her stance quickly, she brought her forearms together using her steel gauntlets as a makeshift shield when the claymore made contact. She felt the force of the blow crush her arms to her chest as she was taken off her feet and sent flying back. She was airborne for several seconds before feeling her back hit the hard wall with a loud _SLAM._

Yang slumped to the ground as she gasped for air from having the all of the wind knocked out of her chest. After several seconds of deep breathing,the stinging in her forearms came flooding through her senses. They felt like they had each just been pounded by an entire professional baseball team using their strongest wooden bats. Hovering her hands in front of her face she couldn't stop the trembling running through her arms as she looked down. She opened and closed her hands several times just to check to make sure that they still worked properly.

Looking up she saw that the man was rushing towards her again, moving too quickly for her to put up a proper defense when something she hadn't been expecting happened. A strange black circular insignia suddenly formed just in front of Yang as the Claymore came down on her. The weapon was stopped in its tracks as it collided with the hovering light, shocking both Yang and Saïx as they stared at it with wide eyes.

"What?" he exclaimed just as Weiss drove into his side like a bullet, plunging her rapier deep into his midsection forcing him to double over from the impact.

His eyes cast a look of hatred so thick Yang could swear she could taste it as he stared down at Weiss just before another set of white symbols began swirling around her weapon and she lunged forward with a single hand, launching him away with a surprising amount of force. Saïx attempted to catch his footing as he stumbled back from the blow but found the floor had been frozen with slick ice just beneath his feet causing him to fall. Before he could rise Weiss aimed her rapier towards his chest before the six cylinder at the base of her weapon rotated and produced a white flash that formed three massive glaciers of ice that each took a side of the fallen Nobody, completely encasing him.

"Whoa... how...how did you do that?" the blonde choked out still catching her breath.

"My semblance is the ability to create glyphs. It's a Schnee family thing, now give me your arm!" she ordered with urgency.

She quickly knelt down beside Yang before taking an arm over her shoulder. Slowly standing, she struggled to lift Yang as she said "Come now Yang hurry! We need to move quick!"

Still somewhat dazed Yang responded "What? What are you talking about?"

Weiss had gotten the girl to her feet now and the two had started to walk towards the hallway "I doubt that ice wall will hold him long so we need to move fast. I don't think he'll fall for the same trick twice." as if on cue the ice began to crack and break as the man struggled within.

"Weiss no, we can't run away!" Yang protested as she shrugged Weiss off her arm, standing on her own two feet again.

"Did you see how he sent you flying there? Or have you suffered memory loss from how hard you struck the wall? look!" she said pointing out the wall.

Looking back Yang saw that the stone wall which had halted her flight had a spiderweb of cracks starting from her impact point.

"I doubt you'll be able to survive another hit like that, nor will I." She said urgently, nervousness building as the cracks in the ice became larger and larger "We're way out of our league here! We need to go and find Roxas. He's fighting Luxord alone and he's the only chance we have to fending off this blue haired freak off."

Yang shook her head "That won't work Weiss. We don't know this castle, he does." she said pointing back to the ice cage "Odds are that he'll find us while we're wandering lost. Or even more likely, he knows where Luxord and Roxas are fighting right now. If we run away, he could use that dark corridor thingy to team up against Roxas, and despite how strong Roxas is, I don't think he would be able to handle the both of him by himself. And even if we were able to by some miracle find Roxas before Saïx does, we saw how Roxas was fighting alongside us against the Heartless. We would be more of a liability than a help. He'd be constantly distracted in trying to save us and getting himself hurt in the process. We'd _**lose.**_ "

Weiss opened her mouth to protest but quickly shut it, seeing the logic in Yang's words "But what if... what if Roxas can't-"

Yang shook her head and approached Weiss, placing her hands on the girl's shoulders "He won't lose his fight. He can't, I've seen what he can do and it's extraordinary." the massive wall of ice finally shattered in a massive _'_ _ **BOOM'**_ sending large chunks of ice scattering across the hard gray floor.

Yang's expression steeled over as she turned to stare down the livid looking individual "Roxas can't lose his fight just like we can't lose ours. If we fall, then it's Roxas who this guy will go after next. He's depending on us right now. Do you want to let him down?"

Weiss scowled at the comment "Of course not!" she exclaimed before stepping forward, standing stubbornly at Yang's side with an equally defiant expression facing the Nobody.

"I still don't think we have a chance against this man, but I do believe we can buy Roxas some time. New plan Yang."

The blonde looked to Weiss out of the corner of her eye as Weiss continued "We just need to hold on until Roxas can get here, if we can distract this guy long enough, then that will give Roxas the time to beat up that idiot with the cards and hopefully find us."

Yang nodded "Sounds like a plan." she raised her clenched fists to her cheeks, assuming a boxer's stance "This is where we make our stand."

* * *

 _-The Gray Area-_

Roxas nimbly spun around a card as he managed to clip Luxord with the tip of his Oblivion. The man called out in pain as the steel struck his forearm with a force that sent tingles running up to his shoulder. Not being the one to waste an opportunity, the boy followed the blow with a second that sent Luxord hurling back into the wall. The man fell to the floor with an anguished expression washing over his face. Pushing himself up onto his knees, Luxord saw Roxas descending from the air on top of him, both the Oblivion and Oathkeeper raised above his head in preparation to strike.

The elder man scrambled out of the way as Roxas's two weapons clashed with the floor with a clang that echoed throughout the entire room. Luxord was quick to return to his feet as Roxas turned to face him once more.

"Impressive Roxas, truly, I always thought you held great potential. Such a shame."

"It was _**my**_ choice to leave the Organization Luxord. I don't care what you think." Roxas saw a twitch in Luxord's eyes as he said these words.

"Is that truly what you think?" he asked coldly.

"The Organization-"

"The Organization is the only possibility we had to have a heart of our own!" Luxord interrupted "Kingdom hearts was the answer to unlocking our hearts Roxas! And you... you were the key."

Roxas paused as he stared at Luxord in confusion "What?"

Luxord growled with an irritation Roxas was not used to seeing on the man "The only means to complete Kingdom Hearts, to grant me and all the other members who followed our cause, is to collect the hearts taken by the Heartless." he paused, composing himself "And as I'm certain you're aware of, the only tool known to effectively collect those hearts is the Keyblade. You, are our first and only remaining member to still wield one."

"...yeah...?" Roxas murmured not fully understanding what he was supposed to be understanding. He _knew_ the Keyblade was the only weapon able to collect the hearts for Kingdom Hearts, why would that need to be reiterated?

"So What that means is that when you left, we had no way to complete Kingdom Hearts ourselves. We had no way to obtain our hearts from that point onward. What would make us real, filling the emptiness inside, was then forever out of reach." the man paused as he chose his next words "When you decided to leave the Organization, when you took fate into your own hands, you weren't just deciding for yourself, you were deciding the fate of each and every one of us. You condemned us to an existence of being a Nobody, an empty shell of a person who lost what it meant to be them."

"That's not true!" Roxas answered back "Xemnas has been lying to us! My friends, they've showed me that Nobodies don't need the power of Kingdom hearts to become real. I didn't think I had a heart either, for a long... long time." the boy looked down, placing a hand to the center of his chest as he continued " But I soon began to... feel something, something more than just logic and reasoning. I started to have... emotions Luxord, real ones, I didn't have to pretend anymore." The eyes of the elder Nobody widened as he listened on "They started out small, and they sometimes hurt me. They made me sad and it ached too." he said clutched the fabric at his chest tightly "But at the same time, I felt relieved, because I knew for certain that it _**mattered**_ to me. I was more than the empty shell that just walked around and listened to orders. I have something to lose finally, I have friends that need me and more." he released his shirt and swiped the air as he said "So I know that it's possible for you to have a heart Luxord. You don't _need_ the Organization at all! You could come with me if you wanted! We could escape this place together!"

Luxord let his eyes drift to the window behind Roxas, staring out with a thousand mile gaze as he focused on seemingly nothing at all.

"Life is such an unfair game to play..." he uttered under his breath as he continued to stare on.

"...Luxord?" Roxas said trying to provoke a proper response.

Still not looking towards the boy, he said "You know Roxas, unlike you, I recall the life I held before my heart was stolen. Before I became-" he gestured to himself with a tired expression " _ **This.**_ "

"I know, I think I was the only one who didn't know their own past."

He nodded "I remember still, after all this time, how it was to actually _feel_ something, as I assume the remaining members of Organization XIII do. I recall what it was like to bet it all on my sub-par hand, holding my breath nervously as I tried to appear calm and confident before feeling that rush of relief when my opponents would fold. I remember the feeling of victory and happiness as I raked in the winnings, and prepared to continue to play the game with genuinely excitement." the man sighed, allowing his gaze to drop "I remember who I was, and who was important to me. I remember my relationships and the woman who adorned my name with her sweet seductive voice, my love, when I was able to love." he smiled briefly in this thought, but that quickly transitioned to a deep frown "Now, all of those people mean nothing to me. I _want_ them to mean something again, to be the people who I once cared for, but now, I can only _pretend._ " he said with a chuckle.

"Even now!" he announced "I only laugh, smile, and exhibit any expression of sadness because I know it's what the old me would have done! I've gotten so good at mimicking myself that I occasionally forget that I'm not truly feeling any of these things." he sighed, frowning once more before turning to look Roxas in the eyes for the first time during their conversation "Do you know how long we've been Nobodies?"

Roxas slowly shook his head "I don't."

"Well, let me just tell you this, some of us were here well before Organization XIII even existed, and have persisted all this time in the pursuit of what we lost, and yet somehow, some way, _**you,**_ the youngest Nobody of our Organization, have found your way back to your heart, while the rest of us continue this shallow existence. In all this time, not a single one of us have done what you supposedly have. For all of us besides yourself, Kingdom Hearts has been the only way for us to return to the life we once had. So please, do excuse me if I decide to turn down your offer."

Roxas opened his mouth, struggling to find the words to respond with before uttering a poorly executed "I'm... I'm sorry."

"You know," Luxord continued ignoring Roxas's comment "I found some solace in knowing that despite you leaving us condemned to be Nobodies forever, I knew at the very least you would be condemned to the same fate. Now that I know even _that_ justice has been taken away from me, I have to acknowledge just how unfair this little game of life truly is."

He smiled at Roxas "I want you to know that I can't _feel_ cheated, no Nobody can of course. But I know that my somebody would have been. I know he would be enraged by this revelation. And I know that despite the knowledge of the fact that you now have a heart, my old self would have found at least _**some**_ justice in knowing that soon you'll wish you didn't have that precious heart of yours."

The young man peeled his eyes at this statement "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh? That's right isn't it? I have yet to tell you of where your friends were sent to during our little altercation."

"What did you do!" Roxas shouted, the pity he had been feeling for the man earlier quickly dissipating in place of rage.

"Well I didn't want your _dear_ friends wondering off alone in The Castle That Never Was, this place can be dangerous for those who don't know better as I'm sure you know."

"Get to the point Luxord!" Roxas ordered.

"Well I thought it would be best that I have someone _babysit_ , you know, play a little game with them while we take care of our business up here."

Roxas's eyes began to widen as he started to understand the Nobody's words "Who... who did you send them to?" he spoke with a fear trembling his words.

"Oh? Well I thought I should send them to the one who has a tendency to babysit us all at one point or another."

Roxas studied the ground as he tried to guess at who this person would be before he landed on his conclusion "...You sent them... to Saïx?" he said with a terror filled expression.

Luxord flashed an evil grin "I always said you were sharper than you look."

* * *

Weiss darted back as the Claymore came down on her, the weapon only barely missing its mark as she lifted her rapier and aimed it towards the man's chest. Shards of ice darted out towards Saïx who swatted them away like flies as they rained down on him. The girl continued this onslaught as she waited for Yang to enact their plan.

Appearing in the Nobody's blind spot Yang prepared a right hook that connected with the cheek of an unaware looking Saïx. Before the force of the punch could push Saïx's face away, Yang released a deafening shotgun blast that made full contact with her opponent. Saïx stumbled back holding his cheek as Yang closed the distance, readying her other fist before attempting a superman punch into the man's nose. This proved to be a mistake however as Yang watched Saïx's eyes sharpened on her just as her feet lifted off the ground. Before she could even react she saw the massive Claymore come swinging into her midsection which sent a wave of pain shooting throughout her senses as well as shoot her across the room. The young blonde came rolling to a stop clutching her midsection in anguish.

"Yang!" Weiss called out in worry as she watched the girl be sent flying across the room. The girl soon realized however that she couldn't pay heed to Yang situation as the man was moving like a bullet towards her.

Growling, Weiss erected a massive glacier between she and Saïx before darting to the left, knowing that the ice structure would do little to stop the Nobody. As she had predicted, the glacier was shattered from a single swing of the man's claymore, but it had served its purpose by obscuring her position for that short second. That second of confusion on Saïx's part gave Weiss the time to push off a dark glyph she had set behind herself and drive her Rapier center into the Nobody's ribs which knocked him back considerably.

Weiss saw a flash of anger from the man as he received the blow but immediately returned to the offensive as he pushed off the ground straight towards Weiss once more, swinging a horizontal strike that Weiss was sure would cleave her in two if she had allowed the strike to land. The girl gracefully leapt into the air as the attack swung harmlessly under her feet. She saw a dark smile creep onto the man's face as his eyes followed her into the sky. With the same speed he had darted towards her before, she found the man in the air directly in front of her with the claymore gripped in both hands directly above his head. It didn't take a genius to realize he intended to drop the weapon like an axe onto her petite form.

"It's over child," he said in a sinister fashion as he prepared to descend the blade upon her.

She realized in that instant that he had planned for this assuming that she would be unable to avoid his strike due to being airborne. There was no way her thin Rapier would be able to halt the sheer force he could deliver with a single swing and she had little faith in her aura being able to absorb the entirety of the attack despite still being intact. She had to admit that had she been like most huntresses, the fight would have most likely been over in this moment.

But thankfully, she wasn't like most huntresses.

Smiling, she said "Not quite!" before a dark glyph appeared beneath her feet serving as a platform as she darted up and diagonally from the man. She peered over her shoulder, enjoying the look of sheer bewilderment as the Nobody's attack passed through air rather than her body. Performing an elegantly executed front flip so that she was upside down, she summoned a second glyph as a second platform beneath her feet before curling her legs beneath her and shooting her straight back down towards the man. Still falling, Saïx could do little as the girl executed her attack from behind, driving her Rapier deep into his spine. The two came crashing to the ground as Weiss lost control after flat out charging the man. The two came to a halt after rolling several feet, landing crumpled on the ground only yards away from one and other.

Weiss was the first to pick herself up off the ground, mumbling under her breath "Well executed but note to self 'need to work on landing'..." After briefly brushing herself off she noted that the Blue haired man in front of her was also stirring, growling as he did so.

"You're proving far more _**annoying**_ than I initially thought you'd be." he said under his breath as he pushed himself up off the ground.

Weiss snapped back "Well you certainly don't know when you've been beaten! You should stay down one of these times!" she snidely chimed.

"Oh, do not be mistaken child. You're attacks do little to harm me. It's just a matter of time before your tricks fail you and I deliver the decisive strike to finish this joke of a battle."

"Is that right?" another voice said, turning their heads in unison, Weiss and Saïx looked to where Yang had been thrown across the room only to find her back on her feet with a furious expression written on her features. Her scowl was deep, her fists tightened into little balls of pure rage, and her eyes... her eyes were beginning to take on a more reddish appearance to that of her typical purple.

"I think you're gonna have to rethink your plan big blue." she said before charging towards the Nobody. Saïx sneered as she approached, swinging his weapon wildly in an attempt to take the girl's head with it. The swiftness of the blade was so fast that Weiss barely saw the blur of speed as it flew past her, but to the group's collective surprise, Yang seemingly saw it coming from a mile Away. The girl dipped underneath the swing managing to not sacrifice any of her speed in the act before rising and connecting a bone rattling uppercut to the man's chin. The punch snapped the Nobody's head back as well as taking him off of his feet for a short second, but that second was one that Yang was unwilling to waste as she readied her other fist and drove it straight into the man's vulnerable stomach. The man let out a staggered gasp as the fist connected, indicating that the wind had been knocked out of him. Yang felt a grin grace her lips as she continued to drive punch into punch into the man, unrelenting as she pressed her advantage. With each successive contact, she roared a single word.

"WHAT-" a hook into his ribcage.

"DO-" the man gagged as his throat was violently pushed in.

"YOU-" Saïx heard ringing as the side of his head received a massive haymaker.

"THINK-" Pain signals raced to his mind as a fist connected with his liver.

"NOW!?" she shouted as she launched one final punch that was aimed for the man's chin in an effort to deliver the knockout punch. To her surprise however, a gloved hand shot up and effortlessly caught the fist mid-flight. Yang appeared stunned as Saïx calmly pushed the fist back down, her arm trembling as she tried with all of her strength to resist the man's efforts.

"Impressive." Saïx uttered calmly as he wiped his lip with the back of his free hand "But that changed nothing." gripping her fist tightly, Yang found herself unable to move as his Claymore which, had previously fallen to the floor behind him, suddenly appeared in his free hand in a sudden flash. Yang attempted to free herself but found her efforts unsuccessful as the blade accelerated towards her with a force she hadn't seen before.

"No!" she heard the voice of Weiss sound out as she suddenly stepped in front of Yang and defiantly in the way of the attack. She raised her Rapier vertically as a black glyph appeared in front of it is if acting like a shield. Yang had seen this before, the black glyph had saved her from Saïx once before and assumed it would do the same here, which only served to strengthen the look of shock on her face when the claymore passed right through the black symbol, shattering it. The sharp sound of metal _snapping_ sounded out as the Rapier too shared the same fate as the glyph before the claymore came crashing into Weiss's chest.

The girl's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as she was knocked back into Yang who was also taken off her feet from the force of the attack. The two girls flew across the floor with Weiss pinned to Yang's chest before they came skidding against the ground.

Yang was the first to rise, taking account of Saïx's calm demeanor as he began to step towards the two girls confidently. She shot him a glare that would have frozen Hell over before turning towards her friend. Weiss was still on the floor with her arms and legs curled up to her chest where the attack had struck. It looking like she was struggling to breath as she lay there gripping the center of her chest with both eyes shut tightly in a grimace, processing the intense amount of pain circulating her body.

Yang roared with anger at the sight before setting her sights on Saïx once more "Don't worry Weiss, I'll get him back for **that**."

"...W-wait..." croaked out Weiss having only just regained the ability to speak.

Yang turned back towards Weiss and smiled in a reassuring fashion "You did great Weiss, you put your everything into that fight. Thank you. Now let me fight this battle for awhile."

"Y-You'll be...* _gasp_ *... torn apart." Weiss uttered as she attempted to get back to her feet but failed to summon the strength to do so, crumpling back to the ground.

Yang flashed a confident smile "Oh that's right! You don't know my semblance! You see how it works is when I get hit-" Her words were interrupted as the blur of Saïx's weapon suddenly appeared and sent Yang tumbling to the side.

"Yang! No!" Weiss choked out as the girl was sent away, leaving Saïx to tower above with a sinister expression on his face as he stared down on her.

"Looks like I was right about you. It took just one strike to take you down, now it seems it will be just one more to take you out of this world for good." he lifted the Claymore above his head, Weiss clasped her eyes shut and winced, preparing for the inevitable, but her ears betrayed the future she had seen coming as two shotgun blasts sounded off from her left before the sound of a painful sounding crunch emanated from just in front of her.

Opening her eyes, to her surprise Weiss found Yang standing where she had been before, rubbing her fist with her hand as she stared off to the side. Weiss noticed that the girl's eyes were the most vibrant shade of red she had ever seen, not a trace of her previous purple remained. Turning her head to look Weiss saw that Saïx was quickly getting back to his feet.

"...What?" Weiss responded in a confused fashion.

"Anyway!" Yang said with clear annoyance in her tone "What I was saying is that how my semblance works is with each hit I take-" once again her sentence was cut off as Saïx appeared at her side in an instant, splitting the air with his Claymore as he aimed for the girl's head. There was an echoing clang of metal striking metal however as Yang brought up a single arm and stopped the weapon in its tracks. Both Weiss and Saïx's faces reflected the same amount of shock as they stared at the confident form of Yang.

Continuing her sentence, she said "I get a whole lot stronger!" before swatting the claymore outward in a way that left Saïx stumbling in a stunned confusion before again feeling Yang's fist plant itself into his cheek. For the first time in the fight the two girls could hear the man grunt in pain as he was sent stumbling back from the force of the punch. Yang followed it up with a second straight punch designed to strike the man in his gut which actually forced the man double forward from the pain. Acknowledging his vulnerable position Yang knelt just in front of the Nobody before performing a rising uppercut that struck him center in the face.

"X marks the spot!" Yang cheered as she performed this action, sending the Nobody for the first time into the air.

As he fell back down to earth Yang stuck out both fists and waited until the Nobody fell in front of them. The moment he did, keeping to the theme of 'pirates' she called out "Fire the cannons!" before both of her shot gauntlets fired in unison. The result was Saïx being sent rolling 30 feet away where he laid still.

"Arrrr! Still able to get up after that matey?!" Yang taunted arrogantly sincerely enjoying her self made theme.

Briefly turning to Weiss she whispered "I've been waiting for the chance to say that ever since I noticed he had an X on his face." with an excited tone.

Weiss annoyed that she wasn't taking this seriously harshly said back "Focus Yang! Don't let your guard down!"

Yang only nodded before a serious expression washed away her previously excited one. She watched as the man in front of her found his footing once more and stared on towards her with a deep gaze.

"So you can get up huh? You sure you still want more? Or are you gonna make the smart move and quit while you don't have _too_ many broken bones." Yang said intimidatingly as she popped her knuckles.

Suddenly, from above them came a heavy _**SLAM!**_ that echoed throughout the empty halls, reverberating as the sound made its way down to them.

"What... was that?" Yang asked under her breath as she turned to the direction of the sound.

Saïx scowled "It seems I've spent too much time _playing_ with you two. He told me he would be capable on his own. It seems he was mistaken." turning back from the noise toward Yang he said "I'll have to wrap this up now."

Yang stared at at the man with a perplexed look, not sure of what he was saying before Weiss called out from behind her "I think He's talking about Roxas's and Luxord's fight! That noise must have been from Roxas winning!"

Realization washed over Yang expression as the Nobody's words clicked in her mind. Nodding she said "Right, we only have to hold out for a little longer. We can't let this creep get to Roxas before Roxas has finished Luxord."

"R-right!" Weiss commanded as she once again attempted to rise to her feet. The act resulted in the a sharp cry of pain before she fell back again clutching her midsection in pain.

"Stay down Weiss! You're hurt and we don't want to make things worse." Yang scolded the girl.

"B-but, you need m-my help!" she croaked out still recovering from her attempt at standing.

Yang grinned confidently back at the girl "I got this, at least, until Roxas gets here. Lay back, chill, watch Yang go to work." she said before turning back to Saïx and smashing her fists together with a powerful sounding _**clang**_. To her surprise the man in front of her had closed his eyes and had his arms parted to either side as if initiating some sort of prayer.

Yang felt her jaw go slack as suddenly his body rose into the air as his weapon, the claymore seemingly independent of the man hovered perfectly vertical behind him, rising steadily with him as it did. He rose to almost 8 feet in the air before coming to a stop.

"W-what is he... doing?" Weiss asked not even trying to mask the fear in her voice.

"I... dunno..." Yang said with a nervousness to her tone as well before her hands tightened into fists "But I'm not gonna let him finish!" she commanded before racing forward. She covered the distance between them in almost an instant before aiming her two shot gauntlets towards the ground and firing. The force of the shotgun shells propelled her into the air so that she was face to face with the man as she drew back a fist.

" **Moon Shine Down.** "

Her fist made contact, but she felt like she had just struck steel as his chin didn't even budge an inch. Saïx's eyes flashed open an instant later and stared into hers, she saw nothing but bright yellow staring back at her.

" **RRRRAAAHHH!** " He roared as a bright blue flame engulfed his entire body knocking Yang away with a force that sent her crumpling to the floor. The girl was quick to her feet however as she tried to process what had just happened.

"Did he just...?" Yang mumbled under her breath as the man seemingly calmly floated back down to the floor before reaching behind him and grabbing his weapon of choice. To her dismay, Yang gasped as her eyes fell on the weapon. It had grown massively from before, its white barbs at the end enlarged to the point that just one was the size of her entire fist.

"What the-" before she could finish her sentence the man was in front of her with the Claymore hammering down on top of her. Something told Yang that she wouldn't have a chance blocking this one and decided to step to the side of the attack, hoping to use the over committed strike to her benefit. To her shock however, when the weapon crashed into the ground with a mighty _**BANG!**_ A massive stream of blue and white flame ejected from the blade hitting her dead on and sending her flying back. A yelp of pain escaped the girl's lips as the fire hit, she finally came to a rolling stop after over 10 meters of being a body shaped projectile.

Pushing herself up onto her hands and knees she realized she had been right in her decision to dodge the attack. From the force of just its indirect impact, she figured that taking the full impact would be a definite death sentence. She had little time to think on this subject however as the man with the glowing eyes charged towards her roaring as he did so.

" _ **GRRAAAHHH!**_ " He cleaved the air with a chop that Yang assumed would have taken down a skyscraper had there been one there, Yang jumped over the attack, hoping to avoid the flames this time as they erupted in a circle emanating from where the Claymore had barely scraped against the ground.

Performing a roundhouse kick, she buried her heel straight into the man's face using two shotgun blasts to propel her spin. To her dismay the man didn't even flinch from the attack as he swung upward, hoping to catch the girl midair. Yang reacted quickly, aiming her two fists towards the man and unleashing two shotgun blasts that sent her flying back and almost out of the way of the massive Claymore. The tip of her left foot was caught from the wild swing and Yang felt an un-ignorable amount of pain splinter up her leg to the point that she swore she could feel the sensation in her chest.

Yang clenched her teeth in agony from the strike, her pride not allowing a scream to bellow from her lungs as she crashed to the floor, no longer able to land properly due to her injured foot.

 _That's... probably broken now..._

She thought to herself as she understood that her aura must have finally have been depleted, she was surprised it hadn't given out earlier, but attributed it to her semblance. Yang pushed herself up once more, too determined to stay down. She grimaced as she was forced to put a slight amount of pressure on her left foot to get back to a standing position, balancing on her right the best she could as she looked towards Saïx. The man rushed the girl who knew she didn't have the speed nor strength to stop him this time. Her eyes glared defiantly at the man as he approached, but just as the distance between them closed, a massive flurry of ice blue, yellow and red descended on the Nobody, resulting in a eruption of near deafening explosions that engulfed Saïx as they struck. Weiss hobbled forward, still clutching her stomach tightly with one hand, but in the other was her broken rapier aiming itself at the blue haired man. The revolving chamber on the end spun rapidly as alternating jets of elemental dust bombarded the Nobody in a seemingly never ending current. The girl looked haggard as she moved forward, slowly sidestepping towards Yang while maintaining the steady aim she had on Saïx.

Yang bore a grim expression as Weiss finally stood beside her, less than a few moments later did the dust bombardment come to an end as the chamber on her weapon continued to spin, but with empty containers within.

"I have more." Weiss said with determination as she began to reach into her coat to retrieve her spare Dust vials.

"It won't matter." Yang said while the debris cleared. Weiss shot the girl a perplexed look before ignoring the comment and loading up six full tanks.

"There, that should do it-" she said before noticing that the smoke had finally cleared.

Standing exactly where he had been before was the angry form of Saïx, his pupils were gone entirely, replaced with bright yellow orbs that stared at the two girls in a demented fashion. His deep breaths sounded almost like snarls as he stood there, his fingers gripping his massive weapon so tightly Weiss speculated that he might break the handle. Other than a few rising smoke tendrils, it was like the attack never happened.

"Nothing _we_ can throw at him will stop him." Yang said with a defeated tone, but something else was there, something Weiss couldn't quite pick up on.

Weiss opened her mouth to ask what they should do but before the words could leave her lips Yang spoke "I have an idea, but I don't know if it'll work. If you can make objects and attacks stop in place, does that mean you can accelerate them too?"

Weiss didn't understand what Yang was thinking but nodded nonetheless.

The man in front of them roared in frustration as he smashed his Claymore into the ground in front of him.

"What is-"

"No time!" Yang shouted at the girl urgently as she launched herself forward towards the man doing her best to ignore the screams of pain from her foot. Still grimacing she ordered "When I say! accelerate my right fist!"

Yang struggled on her broken foot as Saïx met her half way, swinging the massive Claymore wildly as he attempted to crush her into the ground. Yang only barely had the dexterity to dodge out of the way as the weapon formed a shallow crater in the floor. She wasn't looking forward to enacting her plan as she knew it would hurt as well as most likely break her arm in the process.

 _This is going to suck..._

She thought mentally preparing herself. She just barely reared her head back and out of the way as the Nobody swiped upward, nearly clipping her chin in the process.

 _C'mon C'MON! Swing that massive thing the way I need you to!_

Her internal dialog ran rampant in her mind as she did her best to react to the man. Saïx appeared to have lost all focus as he swung wildly again, swinging the blade straight towards the right of her face. Yang saw the attack coming and was able to draw her head back in time, but just after she made certain that her whole frame had escaped the range of his Claymore, her right golden Gauntlet suddenly shot forward. She gripped the arm tightly with her other hand as she angled her arm so that the claymore would meet the back of her gauntlet. Just as she had predicted, a searing white flash of intense pain surged through her senses as the weapon struck, and judging by the sound of the _SNAP!_ Yang concluded that the metal on her gloves hadn't been enough to prevent the break.

"Now!" Yang shouted as she let the momentum of the strike propel her. The force of Saïx's attack spun her around with a speed that made her rotate once in only a fraction of a second. Surrounding her forearm was a single white glyph that helped to continue her spin as she crossed her left arm and fired a single shot in an effort to propel the rotation even further. In this spin that lasted only a quarter of a second Yang cocked back the same fist which had been struck and swung a devastating right hook that even she couldn't even aim from how quick the action was. She had never moved so fast in her entire life, with an idea lingering in the back of her head.

 _If_ _ **my**_ _attacks won't take you down, maybe the force of one of your_ _ **own**_ _will knock your lights out._

Yang felt her fist connect with skin before the force of the impact ran down her arm and through her shoulder. She couldn't determine if it was due to the fact that the forearm was undoubtedly broken or fractured to some degree, but she felt like this was the strongest punch she had ever unleashed, and it was absolutely excruciating as a result. She clasped her eyes shut as she let out a roar that she hoped masked the scream of anguish trying to escape her lungs as she denied herself the relief of pulling her weight off of the arm. Instead, she pushed as much as her arm would go, adding her own power to the combined forces already fueling the rocketing fist. The attack was over in a single instant, sending a powerful sounding ' _ **CRACK!'**_ bouncing off of the walls as Saïx's head snapped back from the force.

Yang breathed heavily as she clutched her forearm, watching as the man stood rigid in place with his head still snapped back, masking his expression. Running alongside the side of his chin was the clear imprint of Yang's fist. The two girls watched as his head limply rolled to the side as his legs began to slowly buckle beneath him, and as he fell Yang caught a glimpse of his eyes. They were no longer bright yellow, instead they appeared half-closed, only revealing the white of his eyes as he tipped over.

Yang felt a relieved smile graced her lips as she watched, her mind was flooding with happiness as she thought of how much of a risk that maneuver had been.

 _That was lucky... I doubt I would have been able to do anything more after that if I didn't land the knock-_

 _No..._

 _ **NO!**_

Her mind screamed as just before Saiz fell forward and to the ground,

his foot shot out, catching himself mid-fall. He slowly lifted his head, and gazed straight into Yang's eyes with the deep yellow orbs she had seen extinguished just moments before.

"Yang get away!" Weiss called out urgently from behind, but it was too late. The last thing the girl with the golden hair could see was a glint of silver and blue approaching out of the corner of her eye before the world went black.

"No!" Weiss called out as she watched Yang crumple to the ground just after the flat of the claymore collided with the side of her head.

" **It's your turn now.** " Saïx sneered, taking a step forward sinisterly.

"I don't think so!" she retaliated by aiming her Rapier directly at his chest, but froze just as she had prepared to fire. Yang was lying unconscious at his feet, there was no chance of her not being hit if Weiss unleashed the same barrage of Dust she had before.

Weiss tried to think of a plan, but before she could she found that the Nobody was above her, the Claymore tightly in his hand as he descended upon her.

And then the world went black.

* * *

- _The Grey Area-_

Luxord was grinning as he sat leaning his back against the splintered wall behind him.

"Pulling out the big guns now are we?" he chimed.

Standing in front of him stood Roxas with a bright white aura spilling off of him in every direction. His two weapons, the Oblivion and Oathkeeper found themselves each coated in the same light which extended outwards almost doubling their length.

Roxas felt almost weightless as he stood there, the feeling of power surging to his fingertips as he did his best to harness the light. He had felt this power come to him a couple of times now, but it was still strange and only seemed to present itself to him when he was in a dire situation. The moment Luxord had revealed to him that his friends were trying to fend off Saïx was the moment his body was suddenly enveloped by the light. He knew he had to end this quickly to get to his friends.

"You've lost Luxord. Give it up." the teen spoke coldly.

"Ah, well you see, the game isn't over quite yet." the Nobody said as he pushed against the wall trying to return to his feet "You see, I still have a hand to play."

"I won't let you!" Roxas shouted as he launched himself towards the man. He brought both Keyblades down on Luxord just as it appeared as if Luxord was throwing out his entire deck of cards towards the ground.

To Roxas's dismay, his weapons passed through the man as if he were composed of thin air. The teen growled as the after image before him faded away "I'm getting real tired of your games Luxord!" he said spinning back around.

His mouth went slack as his gaze explored the floor which had been entirely covered by the same massive 6 ft tall cards Luxord had been using before. They all had their backs face up and began to scatter erratically, mixing the cards around in a fashion that made it impossible for Roxas to track any one.

The young man stood stiff as he eyed the cards surrounding him with confusion. He tried to stab into one that was lingering at his feet but felt as if he were only stabbing into the floor itself as he did so.

"What... is this?" he asked as he examined the field. Just as the words left his lips he heard a sharp noise just behind him and spun around to see Luxord erupting from the ground swinging his arms forward towards Roxas. Two swirls of cards each closed in on the teen before he could react, digging into his form with sharp jagged cards that danced across his body as they left pangs of pain ringing throughout his entire form. Roxas clenched his eyes closed as he did his best to work through the injuries building up on each side of his body. Just as the struggle was becoming too much the pain stopped much to his surprise, leading the boy to snap his eyes open only to see that Luxord was gone once more and the card whirlwinds with him.

The cards running across the floor proceeded to scatter once more and Roxas took note of this, beginning to understand what his opponent was doing.

"Alright...so you're gonna play it like that huh?" the teen quickly stepped forward before positioning his back against the wall, facing outwards so that the cards were in front of him.

"Can't take my back if my back is against the wall..." Roxas spoke under his breath as he awaited what he knew would be another ambush.

"I don't need to." said a voice before, as if summoned on command a card only a few meters away flipped over and produced Luxord who ejected upward several feet into the air. Roxas rushed towards his opponent, readying his weapons as he did so but just as before he could close the distance Luxord pushed his to hands forward and from the floor came two whirlwinds of cards. Roxas attempted to angle himself in between the two tornadoes, trying to slip in between the gap as he continued his charge towards Luxord. As he attempted this however he soon found that there were no gaps, crashing into the set of cards as they completely enveloped him. Roxas released a short cry of pain as the barrage of cards slashed and slammed against his skin, violently bending his body to their wills as they continued their rampage. Roxas started to see black dots as a particularly well placed card struck the side of his head, dazing him. Another cracked as it met with his ribcage at the same time a third buried itself into the side of his knee. Not a moment later Roxas felt something within start to build in his chest, a strange sensation that was forcing its way to his core pushing past the intense waves of pain and panic. It was warm to Roxas as it sat in his chest, and he could feel it trying to order his body to do something just as another card shot into his windpipe, forcing a gasp out of his lips. Roxas let his instincts take over as suddenly his two arms shot up, aiming his two keyblades towards the ceiling resulting in a massive pillar of light that completely engulfed his form.

The cards which had previously been bombarding the teen melted as they tried to enter the light, deteriorating immediately the moment contact was made. Roxas found his focus reestablished as he no longer felt the prescience of the card's strikes, knowing his next move. He brought his two weapons down, slamming them to the floor as he let the feeling of light explode out from himself. Massive columns of light produced themselves surrounding the teen reaching all the way from the floor to the ceiling of the room. The columns of white radiated with power as they circled Roxas, and as the young man looked up, he caught a glimpse of what looked like fear in Luxord's eye. The man quickly dived down, escaping into his sea of cards at his feet.

Roxas growled before roaring out "You can't hide anymore Luxord! You can't hide from from the **light**!"

Roxas once again pushed his Keyblades up into the air, letting lose the columns of light on the room around him. The pillars raced across the room in straight lines, melting the cards scattered across the floor as they made contact just as before. Eight in total, the columns destroyed almost all of the cards aside from the lonely few which happened to slip past unharmed. Those soon met the same fate however as the columns slammed into the four walls, each exploding in rapid succession bathing the room in blinding flashes of light.

When the flashes were finally done, the room was completely clear of the scattered cards, and a bewildered looking Luxord stood in the center whipping his head back and forth searching for his previous cover. After coming to the same realization Roxas had, he turned back at the boy with wide eyes.

"What... was that?" the Nobody asked with confusion dripping off of his words.

"That was you losing." Roxas responded coldly.

Luxord scowled before reaching into his coat "Not a chance! I still have a-" Luxords words were cut off mid-sentence as he suddenly felt a hot sting against his torso. Looking down, he found a diagonal white shining line form running from his hip to his shoulder, and Roxas standing right in front of his readying his Oblivion for a second strike.

"How...?" was the only word he could muster before he felt the second Keyblade drag up and through his chest, knocking him back and to the ground where he lay gasping.

He pushed himself up onto his elbows but froze as he found the Oathkeeper staring him in the eyes only inches away from his face.

"It's over." Roxas said calmly. Light was no longer radiating off of the boy seemingly having left him once he knew the battle had been won.

Luxord only scowled before sighing, and dropping his gaze "It... does seem the game is over..." looking back up, a steeled over expression washed over his face as he stared into Roxas's eyes "But will you make the final move... to end it?"

Roxas became silent as he stared back into Luxord's eyes, fully understanding the question, but struggling to find his own answer. He slowly opened his mouth to respond, but a new voice announced itself from the direction of the hallway

"Lower your weapons, **Now**."

Roxas turned his head to see the approaching form of Saïx, carrying something large under each arm masked by the darkness of the hallway. It was only when he stepped into the room, into the light that Roxas released a gasp from shock.

The Nobody dropped his loads on either side of him, allowing the limp forms of Weiss and Yang hit the floor with a _THUD_.

Roxas felt panic flood back into his system, racing forward towards his friends in concern "Weiss! Yang!".

Saïx summoned his claymore in an instant and hovered it just over the exposed throat of Yang who looked battered and bruised as she lay crumpled on the ground.

"Stop right there." Saïx commanded, forcing Roxas to halt in place as he stared on in fear.

"Don't you **dare** touch them." Roxas said seething with rage.

"I don't think you are in any position to make commands number XIII." Saïx said as he slowly lowered his weapon,slowly pressing his blade into Yang's soft neck.

"Stop!" Roxas exclaimed in panic, reaching out with a hand as his previous serious expression completely wiped away to be replaced with terror.

"Now unless you want something to happen to you oh so _precious friends,_ you're going to do **everything** I say. _**Now**_ , Drop. Your. Weapons."

Roxas clenched his eyes shut, tightening his grip on his two keyblades for a brief moment before a defeated sigh escaped his lips. His grip loosened and let his two weapons clumsily fall, clattering to the floor.

"Fine. Just...just don't hurt them... okay?"

An evil grin curled from Saïx's lips.

* * *

A man in the signature dark coat of the Organization stood still as he looked up at the castle before him. A puzzled expression rested on his face as he stared up at the bright flashes of light dancing across the windows within a corner room of the castle. Earlier he had seen bright flashes from a lower room, dazzling lights of yellow red and bright blue each alternating but nothing else. He stared on confused as this behavior was something knew from The Castle That Never Was.

"What's... going on in there?" he asked to no one in particular. He had explored the castle before despite knowing the dangers of doing so, but had never found anything quite as colorful before. He had mostly only seen gray, gray, and guess what? More gray.

He had searched this area multiple times to no avail, but had never seen anything like what he was seeing know. He argued in his mind if he should investigate as his curiosity was peaked, his mind took two sides as he played out his argument.

 _You've checked this before. Besides, why would he be in there? I makes no sense._

 _ **Better to see what they're up to anyway. I don't know what those flashes of light could be.**_

 _It's a waste of time, we could be checking a new world, we know what's up there already. We need to be searching places where we haven't been before._

 _ **Those lights could mean something big. We won't know for certain until we find out ourselves. Besides we won't be able to best explore a new world with the thought of what this could have been plaguing the back of our mind.**_

 _Sigh, why am I even fighting this? I already know I'm going to go in._

The man chuckled to himself as he stepped forward, raising a hand as he summoned a Corridor Of Darkness into existence.

"Well now, let's see what all those fireworks were about." Riku asked himself as he stepped through the portal.

* * *

 _ **Authors Note:**_

 _Oh boy that was a big one to write! Hopefully you all forgive my latency with this chapter since I decided not to split the chapter in two and instead delivered something that is far more than twice the typical chapter length. Much like chapter 14 I felt this section of the story would have been better uncut. Hopefully I was right. What's Ironic is that I had originally intended for this chapter to go even longer, but once I reached 11000 words and well over 19 pages on google docs I realized "I should probably find a stopping point." lol. That being said, next chapter may be a little bit of a wait (gimme like… 3 weeks? Please?) as I predict it may be just as long as this one as I have quite a lot of content stored up for what's about to go down for our little heroes. As for the fights, I hope all of you found it convincing. I know the most debate I'll have in the reviews will most likely be in regards to how Weiss and Yang were able to hold out against Saix. I knew there was no real way they would be able to win on their own against him, but at the same time Yang and Weiss are no pushover and I wanted to demonstrate that the RWBY cast aren't completely helpless with this fight._

 _All reviews will be responded to via PM!_


	21. Chapter 21: Running From Nothing

The hallway was quiet aside from the steps of the trio. Roxas walked in between the two men, with Saïx taking the lead and Luxord following behind. Each held on to one of his friends, with Yang under Saïx's arm and Weiss under Luxord's. Roxas found himself constantly looking over his shoulder as he monitored the two, making sure that he could still see the subtle movements of their rising and falling chest, indicating that they were indeed still alive.

Although he did his best to maintain a calm demeanor on the outside, internally his mind was racing a mile a minute trying to find any avenue of escape for him and his friends, or just his friends if it came down to it.

 _I just need a single moment of opportunity, just a shot and I'll take it... c'mon... please... give me that shot!_

The trio exited the hallway and made the slow walk to the Crooked Ascension before standing stiffly as the contraption sent them down. By the time they finally reached the floor Saïx decided to step out on, Roxas already knew where they were heading. The quiet group traveled through a hallway that opened up to a massive Room, empty overall with only a single relatively thin platform in the center, spanning only 10 feet in width and falling away to emptiness on either side while stretching the length of the room. Roxas's eyes veered to the right as they fell on the only structure in the space. It was a massive black cube shape that sharply contrasted with the almost intolerable surplus of white around them. It appeared as if it floating on nothing, hovering directly adjacent to the white platform as the group stopped in front of it. There was a single opening to the room, but was barred by dark purple pillars of radiating light. The walls within the space were hellish in color, taking on a mixture of blood red and deep purple.

Saïx lifted his free hand and a Dark Corridor appeared at his side, Roxas could see the other forming within the room just as the Nobody carelessly tossed Yang through. The boy's blood boiled as he watched Yang hit the floor with a painful sounding _THUD,_ her body lay limply still after rolling to a halt.

He snarled at Saïx as he said "Be careful!". The Nobody only rolled his eyes at the boy's anger before Roxas's gaze fell on Luxord. The man sighed in annoyance before stepping through the portal with Weiss still in his arms. He set down the girl gingerly beside Yang before exiting the cage.

"Happy?" Luxord patronized.

Roxas could sense the sarcasm in his voice, but nonetheless he was grateful for the small gesture of kindness "Thank you..." he said under his breath. For a moment he questioned if the two Nobody's expected him to enter the chamber as well, but soon dismissed the idea as the Dark Corridor closed in a wisp of smoke.

"Follow me." Saïx said coldly before turning away and heading back the same way they had entered. Roxas and Luxord each began to follow before the second in command added "Luxord, stay here, and take this as well." he said reaching into his coat and pulling out a device Roxas could only recognize as some sort of radio. The man tossed the device to Luxord, who caught it with a single hand.

"If I radio in with even a single word," Saïx spoke with a dangerous tone in his voice "Execute the prisoners."

Roxas felt his newly found heart skip a beat from the order, his expression of worry was clearly written on his face as Saïx addressed him "Now if you don't want that to happen. You will follow our every order. Any indication that you plan to resist **will** result in the death of your two friends. Now is that absolutely _**clear**_?"

Roxas bit his lip, resisting the urge to spit some foul words back and merely nodded his head, knowing he was in no position to negotiate.

"Good." the man said with the closest Saïx had ever gotten to a smile on his face. The two continued out of the room leaving Luxord with his arms crossed and a slightly bored expression on his face.

* * *

 _The base of The Castle That Never Was_

Riku briskly stepped to the side as he pulled back his blade, a dark purple and blood red curved weapon reminiscent to that of a scimitar. He plunged the weapon down to it's hilt, which bore a single blue eye with a pupil resembling a cat before the Dancing Nobody evaporated from existence. Riku paused as the final Nobody faded into nothingness, turning to look up towards the walkway leading further into the castle.

"They're not typically this riled up... What's going on in there?"

* * *

Yang felt herself being shaken as her eyes slowly fluttered open, she stared lazily at her surroundings before a wave of realization washed over her. Her eyes snapped open as she bolted straight up, bumping Weiss back as she did so.

"Where are we?" she said with panic rising in her voice.

Weiss sighed, motioning with a hand "What does it look like to you? We've obviously been placed in a cage."

Yang's eyes fell on the only opening, barred by the purple beams and attempted to stand. The effort sent splinters of pain shooting up her leg and she immediately crumpled back to the ground.

"Be careful!" Weiss scolded as she shot out a hand to catch her friend, cushioning her fall.

"I-I forgot." Yang admitted as the chain of events leading up to this one replayed in her mind. She lifted her right arm and stared at her hand which hung limply at the wrist. It was sending a steady stream of stinging down her forearm but the girl knew she could do little to stop it.

"Man, We got pretty messed up didn't we?" Yang sighed as she lowered her injury.

"It seems so." Weiss agreed before standing herself. She succeeded in her attempt, but Yang noticed the girl wince as she did so, wrapping a forearm around her ribcage as she walked over towards the bars.

Staring out into the painfully white space she said "Room's empty, Except that Luxord guy. It appears he's been placed on guard duty for the two of us."

"Great." Yang said in a tired and sarcastic tone before lying back with her arms and legs sprawled out "Maybe if we ask him nicely he'll let us go."

"I don't see Roxas anywhere..." Weiss said under her breath so that Yang could barely hear her. But Yang could pick up on the concern in her voice. There was a long pause after that comment with Weiss staring out into the whiteness and Yang staring up into the ceiling. Yang couldn't find any words that would comfort the worried teen that wouldn't be flat out lies.

Several quiet minutes later the young blonde asked flatly "Why... are we alive?"

"Huh? That's a rather morbid question." Weiss turned around with a scowl on her face.

"Well, I mean think about it. What purpose would that have for us?" the blonde took on a puzzled expression "Just doesn't make sense why they would imprison us rather than just, you know, finish us off."

Weiss placed a finger to her chin as she too contemplated the thought "I think... you may have just answered my question."

"Huh?"

Weiss's eyebrows furrowed as she said "There's only one reason why they would need us, why they would have someone guarding us... I saw him holding a radio too like he was waiting on something. They're using us as hostages right now to force Roxas to comply with whatever demands they have."

The blonde's mouth dropped as she understood the implications of the sentence.

"We have to do something!" she sat up in an instant, looking over with concern.

Weiss nodded "But what _can_ we do? We're in rough shape Yang. You're wrist and foot are broken, I'm probably down a few ribs plus my Rapier is completely toast." she said as she raised the hilt of the weapon.

"Yeah... but... I mean..." Yang's eyes studied the floor intently before a growl escaped her lips and she fell back, sprawled out once more "I just... I hate being helpless." she murmured before letting the conversation die.

The two fell into silence for several minutes before the clicking of a distinct set of footsteps brought their attention outside.

"Sir, Is there something you require of me?" spoke the voice of Luxord.

"No number X. I merely sought to meet our guests." spoke a very deep and masculine voice, one neither Weiss or Yang recognized.

The two girls turned their attention towards the entrance and staring back at them was a man with deep amber eyes, a darker complexion as well as long silver hair that parted in the center creating bangs that ran down each side of his face.

"Hello children. I'd like to know your names and just where you two visiting from?" the man spoke with a commanding voice, one that sounded dignified, as if he were used to having authority over a situation.

Both Yang and Weiss stared back speechless as they were locked into the intense gaze he was performing. They recalled the words of Roxas in this moment, the description he had given them in regards to the one man that they should never engage, the one man who they were meant to run from if ever encountered. This was Xemnas.

"No need to remain silent girls. I _did_ just ask you both a question. And it is _**rude**_ to ignore someone speaking directly to you."

Yang was surprised when Weiss was the first to find her words "W-Why do you want to know?" she attempted to sound stronger in her tone, but her voice betrayed her revealing the underlying fear enveloping the two girls.

The subtlest of grins formed on the man's face "Well, it's just that my people have only ever encountered a handful of such capable fighters as yourself. I wanted to know from which world brought us this... 'treat'."

Yang found the courage to speak finally as she spat back, sounding much more confident than Weiss "I don't think you need to know that!"

The grin that had begun to form on the Nobody's lips slipped away "Well then. I'll merely continue with the assumption that you two have come from Remnant, Beacon Academy to be specific. You're names are unnecessary." The man turned and walked away, uncaring of the two looks of fear washing over the girl's faces as he stepped down the walkway.

* * *

Roxas stood in the center of the Room Where Nothing Gathers, eying the massive thrones of varying heights surrounding him. His eyes momentarily fell on his own as he recalled his time spent in the chair, and the few times he'd had when the entire Organization was in this room.

"Feels like it was ages ago..." he murmured to himself as his eyes wandered away only to fall on Xemnas's throne, the tallest of all thirteen. It was empty, which had surprised him when he's entered the room. Roxas had assumed that Saïx, who was standing stiffly just behind the young man, had been taking him to see Xemnas, perhaps as a means to bestow punishment for his desertion.

The blue haired man did nothing to relieve Roxas's confusion as he remained silent even when the teen had asked him directly. From behind came footsteps that seemed as loud as gunshots due to disrupting the total silence that had fallen. Roxas turned around to look down the dark hallway they had entered through and watched as the man he feared most emerged from the darkness. Xemnas's amber eyes locked onto Roxas the moment the two made eye contact.

The teen felt more nervous than he had ever been in his life as the leader of Organization XIII continued his approach, closing the distance between he and Roxas with steady strides. The young man felt his entire body screaming at him to escape, to summon a Corridor and dive in to **anywhere** else but here, and while he allowed the thought to run rampant in the back of his mind, he didn't dare entertain the thought past that.

 _Not with Saïx holding that damn remote, I need to get that thing away from him if I want to get Weiss and Yang out of here..._

Roxas felt his mind drift off towards escape before Xemnas finally stepped in front of him, looking down on the boy with an intimidating scowl.

"Number XIII." he said, addressing the former Nobody.

"Xemnas." Roxas responded equally as cold, staring up into the Nobody's eyes wearing a frown of his own. While he was afraid of the leader standing before him, he was also equally enraged by the fact that his friends were being held captive by this man's orders, subduing his fear.

The man's eyes peeled at the boy's cold response before saying "You've been rather busy dismissing your former allies Roxas."

"Former." Roxas repeated still staring back at the man defiantly. If it came down to a fight, Roxas knew he wouldn't be able to take on two members at once, especially given that he was still feeling drained from his battle against Luxord. Not only that, but he had never seen what Xemnas could do, but at this point, Roxas couldn't see another ending in sight but their combined efforts to end him.

"Hm. I didn't predict seeing this... anger from you."

"That's kinda what happens when you lock up a person's friends!" Roxas snapped back.

Xemnas waved off a hand "They're perfectly safe. They remain as long as you continue to cooperate."

Roxas was confused at this point, continued cooperation? The teen had got it in his head that this room would be his demise. Did the leader of the organization expect him to die...peacefully.

"What... exactly do you want from me?"

A devious smile crept up Xemnas's lips "Come with me." he said calmly before walking past Roxas. Expressions of complete bewilderment washed over both Roxas's and Saïx's expressions.

"But sir!" Saïx interjected "This boy had been responsible for the deaths of multiple members of our cause! We can't just let him live!"

" **Saïx!** " Xemnas's voice boomed echoing throughout the room, instantly silencing his second in command. He let the reverberations of his voice silence before continuing "Do **not** question my orders again number VII, You are _second_ in command, and I did not ask for your input."

Saïx's gaze dropped to the floor before he responded "...Understood sir. It will not happen again."

Xemnas didn't bother to respond as he turned his back to the blue haired subordinate and continued to walk forward towards his throne. He paused for only a moment to call out to Roxas who had been frozen in place by the exchange " **Follow.** " he said in a dark commanding tone, prompting Roxas to briskly fall in behind the man. Saïx quietly followed behind Roxas as the three approached the far back wall. They came to a halt as they stepped in front of the section of wall located directly behind Xemnas's pillar.

For a moment Roxas questioned to himself if Xemnas was losing his mind as for several moments the man merely stood stiff, gazing intensely at the blank wall in front of him. Xemnas raised a single gloved hand and pushed his palm against the wall then, prompting a section of the wall, no bigger than a door frame, to fade away opening up to a room of which Roxas had never known existed.

Xemnas motioned for the teen to step inside, stepping aside as Roxas cautiously approached the doorway before peering in with furrowed brows, but not actually stepping inside.

" **Enter.** " Xemnas commanded in a less than patient tone.

Roxas glanced up to his left at the Nobody and felt a chill run down his spine from the dark gaze the leader was casting. Knowing he was in no position to negotiate, Roxas stepped inside. The room was not unique to the rest of the rooms of the castle, appearing equally gray and bland from the walls to the floor. It was circular with walls that curved inward forming a dome and only about the size of an albeit large living room.

This isn't what drew Roxas's attention however, as a single form stood in the center of the room. It was a petite figure, cloaked in the standard Organization attire with their hood up, concealing their face. Roxas couldn't recognize the figure as any of the Organization members he knew still existed, far too short to be Xaldin or Luxord who was supposed to be watching his friends anyway. The teen turned his head back to shoot Xemnas a look of confusion. The Nobody failed to express a response as he merely stood at the doorway, staring back at him with Saïx at his side also starring in but with a puzzled expression written on his face as well.

 _Did they recruit a new member or something?_

Roxas asked this to himself as he figured the leader of Organization XIII wanted him to approach whoever this person may be. The boy moved hesitantly towards the figure, who stood stiffly with their arms dangling at their sides, completely unresponsive to Roxas.

As the teen grew closer, he couldn't help but feel a wave of familiarity wash over him suddenly, as if he knew who this was, but he couldn't quite place his finger on who. He paused as this thought passed through his mind, less than two yards away, but he could still not distinguish their face as they kept their head downward. He studied the figure a second time and realized that they were actually _shorter_ than he was, if only slightly as well as bearing a slightly feminine figure with a more slender midsection and thin, heeling boots.

 _No..._

Roxas's mind could only go to a single person as he froze in place. His eyes remained unblinking as he tried to understand who this could be before finally asking "Who... Who are you?"

As if only just noticing him, the figure lifted their head, turning to look at Roxas with a confused expression, just as the teen's blue eyes widened with recognition.

* * *

 _-The Soundless Prison-_

Weiss released an annoyed sigh as she rested her head against the wall of the prison, lazily looking out through the pulsating bars.

Yang was still sprawled out in the center of the room staring up towards the ceiling with an empty gaze.

"We...we really screwed up." she said flatly.

"...Yeah..." Weiss confirmed with the same depressed tone.

"Do you think... we'll ever get back?" Yang asked without hope in her voice.

Weiss sighed dropping her gaze to the floor, there were several moments of silence before she responded "We're locked up on a world of darkness being held hostage against our friend who they probably want dead...We're injured and my rapier has been snapped in half... I going to give it to you straight... I don't see us leaving this place Yang."

Yang nodded, bobbing her head off the ground "Yeah... me neither..."

Weiss heard a single sniffle and turned her head to see small tears begin to trickle down the sides of Yang's face as she continued to stare up into the ceiling.

Weiss began to feel pressure building up behind her eyes as well, but fought the urge as she too began to accept the fate that lied ahead of them. She had _decided_ to become a Huntress knowing full well what the fate of most Huntresses were when their end came. This in comparison was probably more peaceful than what most got to experience. She just wished it had come later in her life, that she had gotten to experience more of what being a Huntress was like before it all came to its end.

Their silence was broken as a set of footsteps suddenly echoed down the hallway. Weiss lazily turned her head to look out the entrance. She watched as Luxord stared down the platform, but couldn't see what he was looking at from her little location.

"Sir? Is there something you need with me?"

Weiss thought it was strange when there was no answer as the footsteps came ever closer. The girl watched as Luxord adopted a confused look.

"Why... why does your hair look like that?" a look of realization washed over his expression "You're not-!" his sentence was interrupted as something from out of view struck the Nobody and sent him hurtling back, and Weiss had to admit, it felt good to watch the man skid across the platform.

The girl sat up straight in that moment, reaching over and patting Yang's shoulder as she said "Yang, Yang something's happening."

The urgency in Weiss's voice made Yang sit up despite the difficulty. The two girls watched nervously as the footsteps continued and a man entered their field of vision, he was tall with his hood over his head. He paused as he stepped in front of their cell before turning and staring straight at them. Due to his hood, the girls could not see his face, but they definitely felt his eyes on them as they sat there anxiously. Weiss took note of the strange weapon in his hand, a scimitar in nature it seemed. Resting on the ground at the man's feet was Luxord, seemingly knocked out from whatever attack this man had dished out.

"H-hey! A-are you not with these guys?" Yang was the one to find her voice this time. From her experiences, it seemed that Organization members all bore the same coat that he himself was wearing, but Roxas wore the coat all the same, so maybe this guy was like Roxas?

The two girls flinched simultaneously as the man raised his free hand slowly, aiming his open palm towards the two girls. Weiss gasped as she turned her head and saw a Dark Corridor form just behind them. Looking back she saw the other end of the portal on the platform just as the mysterious man turned and began to walk back the way he'd come.

"Come now Yang, let's get out of here." Weiss commanded urgently as she helped the girl up on one foot, placing an arm over her shoulder before they exited through the portal. When they emerged on the other side they could still see the man walking down the platform, only a few yards from the hallway exit.

"Wait!" Weiss hollered out.

Yang's eyes widened as she turned to the girl still under her arm "What are you doing? That guy's a creep!"

Weiss took a moment to harshly whisper under her breath "This guy might be our only shot out of this place!" before waving her free hand "Please wait sir!"

The man ignored her calls as he placed a step into the hallway.

Desperate, Weiss called out "Wait please! Are you a friend of Roxas's? We need your help!"

To her surprise the man suddenly froze in the doorway, seemingly listening to her. Realizing that it had been Roxas's name that stopped him she called out "You know Roxas right? We're his friends and he needs help! Please! We can help each other! Come back!"

Weiss could see the man grip the door frame tightly with his free hand before the weapon in his other seemingly evaporated in a flash.

 _That's... just like Roxas..._

Weiss thought as the man turned around to face the two girls. Again his hood shaded his face from view, but Weiss could feel his eyes on them.

"Thank you." Weiss said trying to be polite. She began move towards the man with Yang still on her shoulder, but with Yang's broken foot and Weiss's ribs, she was struggling to make any forward progress.

After a few yards Weiss suddenly felt a sharp pain in her side forcing her to release her friend to clutch her ribcage. Yang fell to the ground, letting out a sharp yelp of pain as she collapsed to the ground.

Weiss winced, shutting her eyes tightly as the pain subsided and she was able to turn back to her friend, kneeling as she said quietly "Sorry Yang, I didn't mean to drop you like that."

Yang only nodded as she reached out and allowed the girl to pick her back up again. When the two finally started back towards the man to their surprise he was making steady strides towards them.

Weiss stopped in place he finally stood in front of them and asked "Where are you hurt?" his voice was deep and masculine, but young, sounding more like an adolescent than what a grown man of his stature should sound like. Weiss tried to look up into his hood but noticed him shy away from the act, turning his head away in an attempt to shield his face again. Noticing this, the girl immediately redirected her attention to the floor, having only been able to make out amber eyes behind the hood.

"Uh, my ribs hurt, and I'm pretty sure she has a broken wrist and foot."

To their surprise the man took the hand Yang had been tucking into stomach causing Yang to flinch in pain "Ouch! Easy there gloomy!" Yang complained.

"Sorry." he said with a concentrated tone in his voice. Yang thought about retracting her hand as he held onto it for several seconds, but to her astonishment a set of shining green symbols began to form just above her hand, or more specifically, her wrist. A few more moments later, the man let go of Yang's wrist and Yang winced out of instinct as she prepared for the pain of letting the hand dangle on a broken wrist, but no pain came. In fact, the girl felt full motion in the hand again as she rotated the wrist back and forth in amazement.

The tall man suddenly knelt down and reached out for the foot Yang had been lifting up off the ground. The girl gingerly allowed him to grab a hold of her leg before seeing the same green symbols appear for a few seconds. Once the symbols faded Yang eagerly placed her weight on the limb, smiling as she did so and felt no pain at all.

The girl bounced on the leg as she laughed and exclaimed "That's awesome dude! Thank you!"

He simply nodded before turning his attention to Weiss "Now you."

"Oh um... right here." she said awkwardly pointing to her midsection. He hovered his hand around the space and Weiss was able to take a close look at the green symbols as they appeared, reminding her she realized of her own glyphs. Where he was done, she too felt no pain in her side.

"Thank you sir." she said, deciding not to ask how exactly he had managed to do this. She had already learned that things here were bizarre.

"You're welcome." he said in a 'matter of business' sense "Now where is Roxas?"

Weiss and Yang took a glance at each other before Weiss spoke "We don't know currently, but we do know that he's being blackmailed because he thinks that the Organization has a hold of us still."

The man nodded before turning and walking much faster than he had before towards the doorway. The girls quickly fell in step behind him.

"We need to find him quickly, there's no telling what they will do to him." Weiss said with urgency.

"Hey, who are you though?" Yang asked blatantly.

It seemed almost as if the man hadn't heard her as he didn't even pause before stepping through the doorway.

"I'm Yang," the girl continued gesturing to herself before motioning to Weiss beside her "And this is my friend Weiss. We're both friends with Roxas from school, where are you two friends from?"

The man seemed to tense up at her words as they stepped quickly through the dark hallway, but still he failed to give any answer. After several seconds of silence Weiss quietly said "Let's just focus on finding Roxas for right now Yang..."

The group continued on in silence.

* * *

 _-The Room Where Nothing Gathers-_

Roxas was at a loss for words as he stood there staring at the person in front of him. He reached out and slowly pulled back their hood, revealing a face he never thought he would see again.

"...Xion?"

Standing there before him, staring back at him with confused deep blue eyes, was Xion. Her black air cupped her face as it ran short, only barely reaching the base of her neck at its longest parts. Several bangs fell in front of her face, parted to the side as she tilted her head with a puzzled expression. She looked exactly like the last time he had seen her.

The girl slowly opened her mouth and repeated the name slowly "Xi...on?"

Roxas felt pressure in the back of his eyes as he nodded "Y-yes that's right. That's your name, don't you remember?" he said as his hands rested on her shoulders.

"Re...mem...ber...?" she repeated again still casting a puzzling gaze towards Roxas.

"How are you alive?" Roxas said with a smile beginning to curl up his lips. He quickly pulled her into a hug, holding her tightly as he said "I've missed you... I would have looked for you if I had known you were still..." Roxas's sentence fell away as he noticed that Xion was still standing there stiffly as he hugged her, staring blankly at him.

"Xion? Are you okay? It's me Roxas! We're friends remember?" he blurted out in desperation.

She merely tilted her head again and repeated "Ro...xas?"

Roxas studied the girl for several seconds and realized that he felt very strange in those moments, but he couldn't place from what.

"Ro-xas." the girl repeated, sounding out the name in her mouth before smiling and saying "Roxas!" as if she had just succeeded with an impressive feat.

"You're... you're not Xion... are you?" Roxas said as his previous elation quickly dissipated.

"Xi-on! Xion!" She cheered as she was able to repeat the name fluently.

Roxas suddenly felt dizzy, but quickly shook the nauseous feeling away and spun around back towards where Xemnas and Saïx were still standing "What did you do?!" he roared.

"I thought you would be more grateful to me for reuniting you with such a close 'friend' of yours." Xemnas said coyly.

"This... this isn't Xion!" he said looking back at the girl.

She was practicing their names repeating "Xion, Roxas, Roxas, Xion." it pained him to hear her voice say his name again. The teen felt a slow trickle of liquid roll down his face as he could no longer hold back his sadness. He wanted it so badly to be his old friend. She looked exactly like her, sounded exactly like her, but he knew this wasn't her, there was no way. She was just a shell of Xion, albeit a perfect replica, but he could tell as he stared into her blank, expressionless eyes, that this was not the Xion he had known. This was not his friend.

Roxas turned back towards Xemnas "What. Did. You. Do?" he needed to know just how this man had done this, what had he done to have this girl be in front of him now?

"It was quite simple really. You see, I _was_ a scientist in my past life. It was a simple task of rummaging through Vexen's notes to understand what he had done. It took me some time to properly implement them, but my efforts bore this fruit as a result."

"But why? Why do this? Just to hurt me? Just to remind me of someone who I can never get back!?" Roxas felt a pit of rage building in his belly just before another wave of dizziness struck him and he nearly fell over from the nausea. Catching himself before he did, he placed a hand to his forehead, chalking up his dizziness to the fight he'd had with Luxord less than an hour ago.

 _I must have gotten hit harder than I thought_

"Actually." Xemnas began "I found a flaw in Vexen's work that I chose to correct."

The room was spinning now and Roxas found himself unable to stand, tripping and stumbling to one knee as Xemnas continued talking.

 _What is happening to me?_

He knew he hadn't gotten hit that hard during the fight, he'd taken harder blows before and shook them off well enough. This was different.

"You see, he chose to muddle with Number XIV's true purpose. He thought it would be safer if the... _transition,_ was completed at a slower rate."

Roxas's vision was becoming blurry now, his mind was screaming at him at this point as panic began to set in. He saw a sharp flash out of the corner of his eye behind him.

"But seeing as you're now a _traitor_ I see no point in concerning myself with your well being. So I made Number XV's transition _faster."_

Roxas turned to look back, clutching the side of his head with a single hand and saw Xion staring down at him with a blank expression, but she was holding something now that she hadn't been before. Gripped tightly in her hand was a dark black Keyblade. _His_ dark black keyblade; the Oblivion was sitting in her hand now.

"W-what?" Roxas asked confused. He reached out a hand into open space and attempted to will the weapon to his side, but with little result. He saw the weapon glimmer for a moment within the girl's hand as it did whenever it would warp to him, but quickly returned to its normal state, resting in Xion's hand comfortably.

"No..." Roxas muttered as he finally understood what they were doing to him. Xion was... no... this _replica_ of Xion was stealing his powers from him as did the first.

 _They're trying to steal_ _ **me**_ _away from me!_

Roxas attempted to summon his other weapon to his aid and to his surprise, the Oathkeeper appeared in a flash of light in his palm. Roxas felt more grateful than he'd ever been for the white keyblade he'd always taken for grant.

"Thank you..." he gently whispered to the weapon as he slowly pushed himself to his feet. His legs were shaky and the world was still spinning, but he knew that he need to stop whatever they were doing to him.

Saïx's voice called out at this time "Do you not recall what you were told earlier? If you resist our orders we will have your captive friends **killed**."

Roxas was struggling to see a single Xion at the moment, blinking furiously as he tried to stay steady on his feet.

"Xion's last wish to me was to prevent Kingdom hearts from being completed." Roxas paused as he tried to find the will to continue, with these words he was condemning his own friends to death, but he knew the alternative would be far worse "If you..." he stopped himself as he gasped for air "If you take my Keyblade... that means you can complete Kingdom Hearts... and I can't let that happen."

Roxas felt his resolve steel over and darted forward. His weapon swung at Xion's skull in wicked speed as he pushed all of the other dizziness away. The girl was unprepared for his advance and startled at his movement, but failed to pull up a defense. The weapons appeared to be moving in slow motion as Roxas propelled it forward, as it moved closer and closer to its target Roxas started to see his friends. He saw Weiss's smile as she handed him the his new coat. He saw Yang laughing and joking with him, slugging his arm after telling a particularly terrible pun. He saw Ruby next, smiling as they sat beside each a top the roof top. He saw Weiss's sister too, Winter, she was grinning confidently after her little test at their dinner.

The OathKeeper was only inches from the mimic's neck when it halted, hovering shakily in the air as Roxas stared at his unwilling arm.

"I...I can't do it..." He said as he dropped his weapon. As much as he knew the consequences of his actions, he simple couldn't bring himself to let his friends die. He knew that he wouldn't just be stealing them away from himself, but stealing them away from **all** of their friends and loved ones, all the many people who loved them. He couldn't be responsible for the harm of even more people that didn't deserve it.

"I'll… I'll agree to whatever you want, I'll promise not to fight back... under **one** condition."

"You are in no position to negotiate child, You are to lay down your weapons and cooperate completely otherwise your friends are to be executed." Saïx ordered.

"My cooperation means nothing if they are not set free!" Roxas roared "That is my one condition. Once this is all set and done, you return them to their world. You have no further use for them, no need to harm them. They can go home once you've gotten what you've wanted."

"We need not agree to your terms _traitor_ , you will-" Xemnas raised a single hand, signaling the second in command to stop.

"So it appears that you truly _do_ have a heart." Xemnas said holding his chin with a single hand "What and easy thing to _manipulate_."

"Do we have a deal or don't we?!" Roxas hated having to put his trust into these beings. but it was the last chance he had of saving them.

"We do. I promise to transfer your friends back to their world safely. You are correct, I have no need of them, so they will be able to continue their simple lives in Remnant as long as you submit to our commands."

Roxas fell to his knees, staring down at the OathKeeper in front of him "We have a deal then."

He looked up into the face of Xion, who continued to stare down at him perplexed. In that moment a single memory flashed through his mind. He remembered the face in front of him, staring up at him as he held her in his arms. Her final words rang through his head once more, her wish for him to stop Kingdom Hearts, to set free those many hearts he had spent so long capturing. He knew that she were here, she would be disappointed by his decision now.

"I'm so... so sorry Xion."

"End him Number XV" Xemnas said calmly "We don't require him any more." he addressed Roxas as he said "That Roxas, is your final contribution to the Organization."

Roxas watched the girl as she began to raise the Oblivion above her head, gripping the weapon with both hands.

"I... I wish I could have done... what you asked of me. I wish I could have... stopped... Kingdom hearts."

"R-Roxas?" the clone asked with a confused look.

"Do it now XV."

The girl momentarily looked up toward Xemnas with conflict in her eyes before returning her attention to Roxas. The Keyblade was raised above her head, ready to be brought down now.

"Goodbye number XIII" Xemnas spoke coldly.

Roxas closed his eyes as the weapon swung down, but just as it did, A voice screamed out "Wait!"

There was a loud clang of metal striking metal as Xion's strike was stopped just inches away from Roxas's still kneeling form. The moment the voice had rang in his ears his arm had shot out, summoning the Oathkeeper and stopping the swing with one arm.

He knew that voice, it was Weiss's voice, running footsteps could be heard coming from down the hall where the shout had originated.

"We're here to help, Roxas! Hang on!" That was Yang's voice!

Roxas turned to look out the doorway as his eyes flashed with hope.

 _They managed to escape?!_

It sounded like they were in the Room Where Nothing Gathers now as Weiss called out "Roxas! Are you there?"

Roxas felt a smile grace his face as he shouted back "Yes! I'm here!"

He heard a quiet "Oh Thank everything that is good." From Weiss before she called back "We're okay! You don't need to follow their orders now!"

Both Xemnas and Saïx had their backs turned to Roxas now, staring out at the new arrivals with surprised expressions.

"How did that fool manage to mess this up?" Saïx spoke coldly, his scowl returning to his face.

"It matters not." Xemnas spoke in a tone of annoyance that mirrored Saïx's "Despite Luxord's shortcomings, it will not change the outcome of today. We already contain Roxas's abilities through number XV."

Calling back through the doorway Xemnas ordered "Your order's have not changed number XV. Eliminate Number XIII immediately." He turned to face the two girls and strange hooded man before them "We'll handle these three in the meantime..."

 _Three?_

Roxas thought to himself just before he was forced to block a second swing. This one had a lot more force behind it, and due to being on his knees, he hadn't had the proper stance to stay upright. The teen rolled along the ground from the strike, quickly jumping to his feet once the world stopped spinning.

Rising, he readied himself in his proper, single Keyblade stance. His mind was still spiraling from whatever effect this replica was having on him, but he did his best to focus through the dizziness. He watched as she sunk into a stance that imitated his own almost inch for inch. If not for the small height difference, he doubted there would have been a single flaw between the two. The teen noticed that her eyes no longer bore a confused expression, but rather a look of focus as she trained her eyes on him.

"Let's do this..." he murmured under his breath just as the girl darted towards him.

* * *

Weiss looked over to the man under the hood who had summoned his weapon to his aid and took a stance that was similar to her own she realized.

"I realize I never thought to ask, but just how capable of fighters are you two?" the man asked as he stared down the two Nobodies.

Yang cracked her neck before clanging her fists together "We're pretty good. We almost took down captain X over there before his eyes started to glow."

Weiss made out a feint nod as the man said "I'll do my best to hold off Xemnas... for a time, but I need you two to get to Roxas before it's too late. I won't be able to help any with Saïx. So he's all yours. Once you get to Roxas, the moment you three can escape, take it."

"But what about you? We can't leave you to deal with these two freaks." Weiss asked concerned.

He shook his head "Don't worry about me. I can handle myself. Besides, I can summon a Dark Corridor, I have my own way out."

Weiss nodded before turning to Yang "I won't be as much help in this fight as I was the last time. All I'll really be able to do is lay down some support fire from time to time now that my Rapier is... well..." she raised the hilt of the weapon "Basically gone."

Yang only grinned at the comment "That's fine by me. I've been wanting to get my revenge match anyway. Just worry about taking care of Roxas, got it?" she stared down the blue haired man who only glared straight back.

"We already know the outcome of this battle." he spoke with malice.

"No that was the outcome of the _**last**_ fight, not this one. This one is gonna end with your face buried into the ground!" Yang shot back before launching herself towards the Nobody, ready-ing a wild haymaker in the process.

As Saïx summoned his Claymore to deflect Yang's punch, Xemnas calmly studied the man in the hood with inquisitive eyes.

"Who... are you?"

"Your final opponent." Riku said before darting forward with his Soul Eater in hand.

* * *

Roxas felt bewildered as he parried one attack only to duck underneath a second. It felt as if he was fighting himself as he attempted to bury his keyblade into the replica's chest only to have his weapon deflected by a precise and well timed swing of the Oblivion. Roxas was forced onto the defensive again as he reared his head back only barely avoiding being decapitated by the force of the girl's counter swing. Roxas paused his follow up attack as it felt as if the very floor was shifting beneath his feet, leading to Roxas stumbling back in an attempt to create a distance until the dizzying affects stopped.

The teen had no such luck however as out of the corner of his eye he saw the girl dart in before a sharp pain stemmed from his ribcage. He let out a yelp of pain before he was taken off of his feet and thrown across the room by the force of the blow.

The former nobody hit the wall hard after traveling several yards before slumping to the ground. The dizziness finally left him and his head snapped back up, just as Xion was coming down on him with the Oblivion raised high above her head. Roxas rolled to the side in an instant and watched as the very floor tiles of the room broke from the ax strike the girl had inflicted. The teen quickly raised his OathKeeper and swiped out the replica's legs, summoning a shout of surprise from the girl as she fell to the ground.

Roxas was on his feet before the replica and had his weapon above his head before she had even begun to push herself back up. He prepared let his strike to descend on the girl when his body froze. Staring at the face of Xion looking back up at him with what could only be called a look of worry made the teen hesitated with the Oathkeeper hovering in the air. His hesitation was only for an instant before he came back to his senses.

 _That isn't_ _ **Xion**_ _!_

He shouted internally at himself as he attempted to cleave the girl in two, but in the time he had hesitated the girl had already gotten to her feet and was able to raised the Oblivion in time to stop Roxas's attack.

The teen attempted to push all of his weight onto the Oathkeeper as the replica pushed back, holding onto the Oblivion tightly as the two weapons scraped against one and other.

A wave of surprise washed over his face as he suddenly felt himself being pushed back from the girl. Roxas was forced to take a step back, before another.

The boy felt weak, and knew he would only grow weaker the longer the fighter went on. Understanding that he couldn't rely on his strength in this fight, Roxas suddenly dipped low, allowing the replica's keyblade to swing wildly above his head before rising with his Oathkeeper in hand. He slashed a straight line towards her torso, but was surprised when he saw the girl step out of the way at just the last second in a manner that was vaguely familiar to him.

 _What?_

A sharp pain erupted from his chest as the girl mirrored his attack with her own, swiping his torso with a force that sent him stumbling back clutching his chest. Taking a moment to process the pain, Roxas didn't see when the replica darted towards his left side before she slammed the oblivion into his shoulder with a bone rattling strike. The collision pushed him to his right before another strike met with his calf, forcing the teen to a knee.

Roxas grimaced, shutting his eyes tightly from the stinging before forcing himself to ignore the sensation and snapping his eyes open. The Oblivion was only inches from his face when he opened his eyes. The young man quickly shifted his head to the right leaving the same shoulder from before to take the hit dead on.

A blood curdling roar of pain escaped the boy's lips in that moment as his mind flooded with agony.

* * *

Outside the room, Weiss was trying her best to support Yang with random Dust blasts whenever she was certain she wouldn't catch Yang in the crossfire. The fight between the two was brutal in their execution. Weiss winced each and every time Yang took a hit from his massive weapon as she was often sent flying away or skidding across the ground. But to the girl's credit, she got up each and every time and had managed to actually land several punches that appeared to have actually affected the Nobody.

Weiss turned to watch the stranger and Xemnas battle and realized just how far ahead in skill they were. The leader of Organization XIII had somehow summoned two solid red beams of energy from his palms, jutting out like poles and it was clear to her that he knew how to use them. He moved with a speed that made it hard for Weiss to track, but to the stranger's credit, he appeared to be keeping up, at least somewhat. The man had been forced to fight defensively for the majority of the fight with the only times he'd attempted to strike back being met with harsh strikes from the two beams of light.

Weiss hadn't been able to help the stranger any with his fight. The entire time she had been watching, Xemnas made sure to press his advantage, leaving zero gaps between he and the stranger which also left zero chances for Weiss to attack, at least, not without catching the stranger in the collateral.

All this time Weiss had been trying to find the opening for her to race through that door frame into the room she could hear Roxas fighting within. His opponent was a mystery to her as the doorway didn't allow enough view to see very far in. What more, it appeared to her that the other two Nobodies were adamant about keeping her out of whatever engagement was going on within the room. They strayed close to the door in their fights, making sure to swipe at her whenever she would come to close to the entrance.

Weiss fired off another ice shard just after Saïx managed to catch Yang out of the air and send her clattering to the ground. The ice shard struck the Nobody straight into his face just as he had been raising his Claymore to deliver a final blow to Yang's fallen form. He staggered back from the attack, wiping his face and giving Yang enough time to jump back to her feet and delivered a straight uppercut to the Nobody's chin. His head snapped back from the blow and opened him up to a barrage of punches that Yang eagerly took advantage of.

Seeing a small opening towards the door frame now that Saïx was on the defensive, Weiss formed a single white glyph just behind her which she immediately jumped onto. She leapt off of the platform, shooting like a bullet towards the entrance. She was only a few feet away when a now familiar red beam of energy caught her mid air and drove her into the ground. She called out in pain before glancing up as Xemnas drove one of his weapons straight towards the girl's face. At the very last second, a dark purple and red scimitar dived in front of the attack, deflecting it.

"Move!" The stranger shouted just as he was knocked away by Xemnas's second beam.

Weiss quickly scrambled to her feet, barely managing to avoid two wild strikes from the Nobody before a room filling scream echoed from just behind the door frame. Silence ensued soon after as the fights had all suddenly stopped; even Saïx and Yang had paused to view towards the doorway.

"That... that was Roxas's voice..." Yang uttered under her breath anxiously.

A small grin appeared on Saïx's lips as he turned to look towards the girl "It appears your friend has finally fallen to our newest member."

Yang growled, her purple pupils returning to their fire red complexion before she drove a straight right into the Nobody's nose, prompting him to gasp and stumble back. Their fight soon resumed as Weiss stared wide eyed and nervously at the door.

"R-roxas... Roxas! Are you okay!?" she screamed.

There was no reply behind the door, even the sounds of fighting she had heard before from within had ceased.

 _No, no, no, no, NO!_

"It seems our former member has finally fallen." Xemnas said in a cold tone, looking over towards the girl only a few paces away from her. The stranger had gotten to his feet at this time and was standing beside her with his blade ready. Weiss could see his shoulders shift up and down as he panted from exhaustion, clearly struggling to keep up with the man in front of them.

"Weiss." the stranger started "take this." he said quickly offering his weapon to the girl.

"W-what? But what about you?" she said trying to push it back to him.

"I'm going to try a... different tactic." he said looking down at her. In that moment, she could see his face clearly, and as she stared up into his hood, she saw the face of Xemnas looking back at her.

The girl did a double take as she looked back towards the leader of Organization XIII who stood with a smug look of victory written on his face. When she looked back towards the stranger he had turned away, facing back to Xemnas with crossed arms.

"Go get Roxas." he said sternly.

"I've been trying to, but they keep-"

Her sentence was cut short as he said "He won't get through me this time." he said with a fierce determination. Weiss watched dumbfounded as the space just behind his head began to darken and warp, wisps of black vapors swirled around the quickly widening space of darkness before she could see a figure begin to form. Two massive pitch black arms emerged from the darkness, easily dwarfing the stranger in size before its head appeared with four massive horns that dangled at their ends. The torso of a massive humanoid monster hovered just behind the stranger, staring down at Xemnas with ominous yellow glowing eyes.

Weiss's terror grew the longer she stood alongside who ever this person was. Despite his aid towards rescuing their friend, Weiss found herself increasing doubting her trust of the man beside her.

"Is... that a Heartless?" she finally asked.

He turned to her with a cold look. This time she could clearly make out the face of Xemnas before her, with two yellow eyes peering down on her. The only distinction she could make was the fact that he kept his hair slick back instead of the bangs Xemnas bore.

" **Go.** " he said.

Across from them a laugh echoed throughout the chamber. Chilling in it's delivery due to the how serious he had seemed before.

"So _that's_ who you are." Xemnas said trying to stifle his fake laughter "How ironic that I would be fighting _you_ of all people." he parted his hands to either side, summoning his beams to his aid once more "Well then, this fight has suddenly become **far** more interesting."

Weiss quickly turned and darted towards the room she knew Roxas to be within. Not to her surprise she saw out of the corner of her eye Xemnas moving to intercept her, and readied the new weapon to block his attack. Before he could get close enough to reach her however, a dark black hand reached out and snatched the man by his chest. Xemnas struggled within its grip as the Heartless closed his other hand onto the man.

Weiss turned back to look at the stranger with a stunned expression. He seemed to be focusing intensely on Xemnas as the beast did it's best to hold the Nobody.

"What are you doing?! **Go already**!" he roared, initiating the girl back into action. Finally unrestricted, Weiss shot through the doorway and into the room. Her head whipped back and forth quickly scanning the room before her eyes landed on the figure of someone her height in the organization coat. They had their back turned to her, and was staring down at the kneeling form of Roxas, looking battered and beaten as he stared up at the figure with a anxious and lost expression on his features. He clutched his left arm at the elbow as he stared up at the figure who held both of Roxas's weapons in either hand, gripped tightly as they stared down at the boy and Weiss knew she had little time to act.

 _ **NO!**_

* * *

 _-two minutes earlier-_

Roxas attempted to clip the girl's legs with a wide swing of the Oathkeeper, but a well timed parry from the replica left Roxas stumbling to the side from his own momentum before he felt the hilt of the Oblivion smash against his nose. The teen felt something begin to run down his nose as he scrunched his eyes from the impact, in less than a moment he felt another pain erupt from the side of his head and he was barely able to stay on his feet as he stumbled back from the blow. The teen scowled as he reopened his eyes and caught the replica rushing towards him in a low stance. He was able to avoid her ax strike and responded by driving the Oathkeeper into her chest where he left it buried before commanding "Fira!"

The girl took flight as the projectile shoved her back before exploding her against the wall. Roxas noticed just how small the ball of flame appeared to how the spell typically looked, but ignored the fact, satisfied that it had worked at all.

 _I'm so... tired..._

The teen was struggling to stay on his feet at this point, his energy almost totally drained. Every time he blinked was a struggle to reopen his eyes. He watched as the girl picked herself off the ground before immediately sprinting straight towards him. Roxas's two arms trembled as he forcing himself to raise the Oathkeeper once again, pulling whatever remnants of strength he had left to perform the action. He was able to successfully stop a swing aimed towards his face, but the impact of the strike had made his arms feel like jello. The teen blocked two more successive strikes before his arms finally gave out. The girl swung the Oblivion with a force that knocked Roxas's weapon out of his hand, clattering it against the wall as it did so. The teen desperately reached out towards the Keyblade, attempting to summon it back to his aid but before he could he watched the Oblivion come down on the outstretched arm. The boy heard a sickening crack as the metal pushed into his arm, bending it in a way that he had never seen it bend before. Roxas couldn't stop himself from letting out a bellowing holler of pain before crumpling to the ground clutching his broken arm tightly.

"n...no..." he murmured to himself as the replica stood in front of him, staring down at him. He raised his other arm towards the Oathkeeper. This time the girl didn't stop him, turning her head to stared at the weapon as well.

Roxas watched with confusion as the Oathkeeper remained on the floor despite his willing it to come to him. Finally, the weapon disappeared in a flash of light, but to his surprise his hand remained empty. He stared down at his open palm in confusion before turning his head to the girl. In her other hand now rested the Oathkeeper. Panic set in as he desperately searched for any answer to this problem. He searched deep within himself, looking for the light that had aided him earlier, but all that awaited him was the tiniest glow only barely still lit. He knew he wouldn't be able to rely on it now.

"I... I... lost?" he asked dazed and confused. The teen could see dark spots filling his vision now. It felt as if he was going to pass out in only a few moments.

Roxas looked up to the girl and saw her staring him in the eye as she slowly raised the Oblivion above her head. Roxas grimaced, clasping his eyes shut as he prepared himself for the inevitable, but it never came. After several seconds of silence Roxas finally opened his eyes again and saw that the girl had lowered her weapon and was staring back towards the doorway where he could hear his friends fighting outside. It sounded as if a third party was participating which explained why they had been able to last this long against the force of both Saïx and Xemnas. He couldn't imagine who would be able to stand up to Xemnas, but nonetheless he was grateful to whoever was aiding them.

She turned to look back towards him, her focus seemed to have dissipated for a look of contemplation. It was clear to him that she was trying to think as she slowly raised her hand causing Roxas to flinch out of instinct. He refocused on her with a puzzled expression and noticed her lips slowly trying to form a word.

 _What... are you doing?_

"R-Roxas...?" the girl said pointing a finger towards him.

He shot her a puzzled expression "W-what?"

"Roxas!" she said jabbing her finger towards him again with an annoyed look.

Roxas couldn't find any words to answer as he stared at the replica with a tired face; he nodded.

She pointed to herself next "Xion?" she said with a tilted head.

He scowled "You're not her."

"N-not Xion...?" she said still indicating towards herself. She looked sad, lost and puzzled at the same time.

"You're not. You look like her... but you're not her." he said frowning deeply. He was still questioning why she was engaging him like this in the back of his mind, but anger was welling up to cloud that judgment. He couldn't stand to allow some _fake_ to pretend to be his friend.

"Not...Xion." she repeated, looking down and frustrated "Who... me?" she finally asked after taking several seconds to find the words.

Roxas opened his mouth to respond coldly, but a realization washed over him in that moment. In front of him wasn't a dedicated member of the Organization, this wasn't some henchmen of Xemnas with years of experiences backing their resolve. This was a newborn, a child obeying orders, but not sure why she was. She wanted answers to her existence, but she didn't know who to ask, or even what for that matter.

"You're... you're who you want to be." he answered slowly, studying the girl for several seconds.

"Me... number... XV?" she said with a brightness to her eyes that he could recognize. It was the same glint of excitement he saw from Xion whenever they would discover something new. A slim smile started to unconsciously form on Roxas's lips, it was nice to see her this way again.

 _No, this isn't her, stop that._

A frown returned to his lips before answer "You don't have to be."

"Me... no XV?" she said looking confused again.

"Xemnas gave you that name. But, you can be a lot more if you want to be. You can have a real name too."

Roxas could see the gears turning in the girls head as she studied the floor trying to make sense of all the words he had said.

After a few more seconds a look of understanding seemed to wash onto her features and she nodded "Roxas... Xion... Friends?"

Roxas took a moment to understand before nodding "Xion was one of my closest friends." he confirmed.

"Roxas... Xemnas... no friends?"

"We were never friends." he said coldly "He used all of us."

Roxas saw the girl nod understandingly "Me... Xemnas... friends?"

"No." he said "He's no one's friend."

"Roxas... me... friends?" she said with a tone of hope that made Roxas's chest sink.

Roxas was stunned for several seconds as he processed her comment "You want to be friends?"

A puzzled expression washed over her features again "I...don't... know?"

Roxas struggled to find a response when he suddenly heard a set of footsteps rapidly approaching them. The replica didn't seem to notice the noise as she stared down at Roxas trying to form a sentence

"me... want-"

"Get away from him!" Roxas heard Weiss's voice called out as she suddenly appeared behind the girl. The replica's chest suddenly lurched forward as Weiss drove something into the girl's back. Roxas stared stunned as the replica bore an expression of shock, most likely mirroring his own as she stared down at him with confusion.

"R-Roxas?" she coughed out before stumbling away a few steps. The blonde found himself unable to tear his eyes away from the girl as Weiss quickly knelt at his side and started talking to him, but he couldn't hear it. Something about 'getting out of here' or 'gotta move', but it was as if his hearing was impaired as he watched the replica struggle to remain standing with a strange purple and red blade embedded deep into her back. Finally Weiss stopped talking as she too looked towards the girl just as she finally fell forward, crumpling to the ground limply.

"...no..." Roxas whispered as he suddenly felt his nausea and fatigue dissipate. He found the strength to rise again, quickly standing before racing over to the replica.

"Roxas?" Weiss asked confused as he darted away from her. She said nothing as he knelt down by the replica's side. He placed a hand on her shoulder, looking into her eyes only to see nothing shine back. The spark he had noticed before was extinguished, only a blank stared looked back at him.

Roxas said nothing as he rose to his feet.

Weiss quickly began to stammer "I-I'm sorry! I-I didn't know- I didn't mean to- I was just, she was standing over you and- she, I thought she was about to finish you!"

Roxas had his back to her as he held his head down, staring at the body of the girl. After several seconds of silence two bright flashes of light flickered his Oblivion and Oathkeeper to either his hands.

He raised his unbroken arm and hovered his Oathkeeper over his other elbow before a green light Wiess could recognize from the stranger appeared. It hovered over the arm for several seconds before dissipating.

He turned back to her with an empty expression "Let's go." he quickly walked past her as he stepped towards the doorway.

"I'm so sorry Roxas please! I didn't know she was- was she- who was she?"

The teen stopped just outside the doorway where the sounds of fighting could still be heard.

"I guess... she was no one." he said coldly "But... I think she could have been _someone._ " he stepped out into the Room Where Nothing Gathers.

* * *

Yang was panting hard as she dived out of the way of a wild swing above her head before a second came crashing down on her like an ax. She was barely able to sidestep out of the way, feeling the air push against her skin from the Claymore's speed before it struck the ground with a mighty boom. She knew what was about to happen, but was powerless to stop it as blue flames once again exploded from the weapon. She was only able to barely raise her arms in front of her face before she was launched back. She tucked her feet to her chest, allowing herself to go with the momentum before rolling back to her feet and angling her fists behind her. With two shotgun blasts she bolted back to Saïx. She was able to land a single knee to his chin which mustered a grunt of annoyance from the man before she felt his gloved hand wrap around her ankle.

A discombobulated "Whoa!" escaped her lips as she was brought slamming down to the floor. Yang grimaced as she processed the pain running from her spine before forcing her eyes open realizing that she had taken a second too long on the ground. Descending upon her was the massive Claymore with full force, the girl raised her two arms in a feeble attempt to block the strike, but even she knew that they would do little to stop the blade. Suddenly a black blur darted out in front of the blue haired Nobody and the Claymore halted in place with a mighty ' _CLANG'._

It took the girl several moments to realize just who had stopped the attack.

"Roxas? Roxas!" she said with a cheery smile. He held his Oblivion and Oathkeeper in a crossed fashion, pinning the claymore between them.

"Number XIII? But how? I thought you were supposed to be-"

"Enough." was all that Roxas said as he began to glow a bright white light. Yang stared dumbfounded by the radiance as she quickly scrambled to her feet.

"Fool! You think that just because you've recovered some that you're a match for-"

"I said ENOUGH!" Roxas roared before batting away the claymore with his Oathkeeper and descending his Oblivion on the man. The weapon ran down Saïx's chest diagonally, forming a shining white line as it did so. The Nobody staggered back from the blow, clutching his chest with one hand as he tried to steady himself by leaning on his weapon just as Roxas raised his two Keyblades above his head. He swung with both of them, but neither could reach the Nobody in front of him, instead he struck the ground with both weapons and a moment later a massive pillar of pure white erupted from the ground before racing towards the second in command.

"What is this-?" was all the man could get out before the column of light collided with him. It carried him as it continued it's path, only stopping once it struck the wall. It exploded in a bright flash of light leaving Saïx's unconscious form pinned to the wall before limply falling to the ground.

"Woo! That was so awesome!" Yang exclaimed.

Roxas ignored the girl as he turned and quickly started to approach the only remaining battle.

"Roxas...?" she asked as he walked past her.

* * *

Riku growled as the man teleported out of the way just as his shadow began to close it's fingers around his form.

"Coward!" Riku shouted as he spun around, only narrowly raising his shadow's arms in time to block an attack meant for his back.

"Fool." Xemnas spat back before his face reflected pain and his body lurched to the left. He was sent flying towards the wall, revealing Roxas still glowing behind the Nobody having just slammed both Keyblades into the leader of the Organization. Riku's eyes met Roxas's and felt a chill run down his spin. The eyes looking back at him were cold and empty, as if the boy was staring through him rather than at him.

Knowing that the boy recognized him from their last encounter, he began "Roxas, I-"

"I don't care right now." the teen spoke bluntly "Let's finish this fight, then we can settle things.".

The boy turned his back towards Riku, stiffly moving towards Xemnas with each keyblade scraping against the ground on either side. Yang trailed behind him with a concerned look stealing a glance towards Roxas, but obviously ready to fight with her fists raised to fight. Riku followed on the other side of the boy.

Xemnas scowled as they approached him, turning his head to evaluate Saïx who hadn't moved since falling face down to the ground.

"Seems my creation was less than I thought it would be. A pity." he carefully eyed the trio before noticing that Weiss had re-entered the room and was soon standing by Yang's side with a determined look written across her face.

"What... a predicament." he spoke calmly "Well, as much as I'd enjoy dealing with the four of you. It seems I have some _other_ business to attend to."

"You aren't going **anywhere**." Roxas said with venom laced in his words.

"But aren't I?" the man said as the space around him began to warp.

The boy's eyes widened as he recognized what he was doing " **NO**!" he roared as he dived forward, attempting to drive his Oathkeeper into the leader's chest. His weapon passed straight through the man, forcing Roxas off balance as he stumbled to the ground. He quickly whipped his head to the side, watching as Saïx's form was also absorbed into the same blackness before disappearing.

"No!" Roxas shouted slamming his two hands against the floor. The boy's voice echoed against the walls for several seconds before a silence instilled. Yang looked between the three, examining Weiss's shameful expression, the stranger's intentional head drop to cover his face more effectively, and Roxas still on the floor.

"What... do we do now?" she asked awkwardly. No one answered for a long time.

"You two should return to your worlds." the stranger said coldly "You don't belong here."

Weiss and Yang nodded in unison before Weiss noticed he had said you _two_ "What do you mean, us two?"

"I just... I...Fine." Roxas said in an angry yet somehow tired tone. He slowly pulled himself to his feet "He's saying I can't go."

"Why not?" asked Weiss quietly, staring at the stranger with weary eyes.

"Because," Roxas answered "We have unfinished business between the two of us." he said glaring towards the stranger under the hood. Although his eyes were shaded, Roxas could tell that he was staring back at him.

 _ **Author's Note**_

 _Holy crap was that a long chapter. I'm gonna be honest buds, this chapter was a serious strain on my writing capability. It was 22 pages in length, 22 pages! Now that may not seem that long to you, but keep in mind that this is coming from a guy who found 2 pages wide ruled in high school as too much work (I see the irony plain and clear). Also, I know that this chapter basically took a month long to write. The reason being? Well because I was drained from the last massive more than twice as long chapter prior to this one. I had initially asked for 3 weeks because I wanted to take a break from this story for a week and return with a fresh mindset. But, as I started the chapter I soon realized that this one had to be a big boy too and thus it took me more time. That or my standard of chapter length is starting to increase (both a blessing or a curse since my writing speed hasn't necessarily improved.)._

 _I cannot say for certain how long the next chapter will be. My plans suggest the typical length, but seeing as this once was supposed to be the same I can't say for certain any more. All I can say is that I will be working on it, and I promise that the story is not abandoned despite how long between updates it may seem. Also, If I'm late, it's always because of one of three things 1)damn thing became more than I expected 2)All of your reviews took a little longer to reply to than I thought (Which is awesome!) 3) My motivation died and I'm taking a break -_- lol.(BTW ya boy Roxashadow had his B-day over the break! June 6_ _th_ _baby! Let's give him some love eh?)_

 _Now this chapter may have some speculation and negative reviews from the obvious deviation from the original canon in the form of Xion's replica. Now I know that there will be that one (or many) reviewer(s) who feels the need to explain just why this character wouldn't have been possible or how Xemnas couldn't have recreated her or that there were no notes. I'm sure there will be many who tell me that it doesn't make sense how quickly she took away Roxas's strength. And to all of them, I say,_

 _I apologize. I'm sorry that my_ _ **fanfiction**_ _broke the canon of kingdom hearts with a character that didn't last more that a chapter. Now If any of you still want to write out that review, please feel free to since, as always, I warmly promote both positive and negative criticism to my writing. But, if you feel my apology was enough, then I hope you can find another aspect of the chapter to critique =)._

 _All reviews will be responded to via PM!_


	22. Chapter 22: Giving Something Up

Yang found herself looking between the two men in bewilderment. Each held a tense stance as they faced one and other in what appeared to be a stand off. Yang watched as Roxas's grip on his keyblades tightened before a white aura started to slowly envelope his form once more in small but building wisps. The stranger opened his hand and in a flash he held his Soul eater tightly gripped within his fingers.

"Whoa, Whoa, whoa!" she called out as she put herself between the two, raising an open hand in front of each of their angry faces "Why are you doing this? We just beat the bad guys there's no reason to fight!"

Roxas shook his head, his scowl unwavering "You don't understand. He's one of the bad guys."

The room entered a silence from his words.

The two girls stared dumbfounded at Roxas for several moments before Weiss spoke up "Wait... then... why would he... help us escape and then rescue you?" both she and Yang turned to stare at the man. He lowered his gaze, turning away in response.

"It's more complicated than that." he said coldly.

"Then why don't you explain it to me." retorted Roxas spitefully "You hunted me down, attempted to end me, and forced me to flee to their world " he said pointing with his Oathkeeper towards the two girls "Now you've seemingly come to rescue me only to fight me again! What is your obsession with me!?" he roared. Roxas felt his body trembling with anger, from frustration, from _**pain**_. His mind spun as he tried his best to contain himself, to process the night's events, to accept what he had just witnessed for the second time in the other room. He didn't know if he'd ever felt so angry before, if he'd ever felt so _**unstable**_.

The man paused for several seconds, looking away to seemingly study the wall "...Do you remember when I told you... that you were the Nobody of Sora?" the stranger said in a calm yet tense tone.

Roxas winced as the name met his ears. It had been a long time since he'd heard that name "Of course I do." he responded calming down "That's not something you just 'forget'" he'd thought about their short conversation many times since that night. His anger blamed the stranger for what had happened in Remnant, for what had happened to his friends, to Ruby. He blamed the man because Roxas knew he'd never had found their world had he not been attack that night, had this man never approached him, he would have never involved Beacon Academy into his troubles, he would never had gotten his friends hurt. Roxas was quick to dismiss this line of thought, although it felt good to entertain the idea. He knew deep down that the responsibility fell on himself for what happened, that all of the hardship that had come had come from **his** arrival. It was something he struggled to accept, but he accepted it nonetheless. This did nothing to contain his anger however, as it only turned his frustration on **himself**.

"Well... on that night, I had come to... collect you, to bring you back to your somebody, to Sora."

The teen bore a stunned expression as the words met his eardrums. Suddenly his anger fell to the back of his mind as his senses focused themselves on the man in front of him.

 _Back to... Sora?_

"What do you mean?" Weiss demanded, suddenly expressing a rage that gave a sharpness to her words.

"Sora needs you Roxas." the stranger explained "He needs you to wake up. To become whole again, for both of you to become 'whole' again."

"Wait, wait, wait. What are you talking about? How would Roxas make this...Sora person 'Whole'? I don't get any of this." Yang stated with a puzzled expression. She looked between the two cloaked fighters, watching the grave expression on Roxas's face as he contemplated the man's words.

Weiss, still angry snapped "I don't know what you're expecting to do to Roxas in order to bring back this 'Sora' person, but I promise you I won't allow it." She turned to Roxas "He tried to end you? He's saying he needs to _kill_ you in order to restore this _Sora_ person to consciousness?"

"No..." Roxas spoke quietly as he reflected on the night "He wanted to... capture me... I remember now... he had me in his Heartless's grips, he was going to take me back to Sora... where-ever that is."

The stranger nodded "That is correct. Sora needs to wake up Roxas. He needs to be complete again." he reached out a hand, gesturing for Roxas to take it "I need you to come with me, to make things right again."

Roxas opened his mouth to reject the offer but found his lips soundless as a hesitation washed over him. He closed his mouth as his gaze suddenly dropped, thinking in a quiet daze. His anger had tried to return, to fuel his mouth to shout 'Shut up!' as he'd done last time, to fuel his legs to charge at the man like last time, to fuel him to raise his keyblade in defiance like last time.

 _But this_ _ **isn't**_ _last time._

Roxas thought as he tried to look past the flood of emotion. He wanted to look past his anger, past the raging inferno that so often pushed him to go farther, motivated him to fight past his limits whether it be anger towards hurting his friends, anger towards the Organization, or anger towards the confusion he felt whenever he was painfully reminded that he, wasn't the same as everyone else. Pushing past all of these thoughts, all of these aspects of his rage he found something, something that he'd never noticed before, but had always been there.

Exhaustion.

"W-Wait what? No Roxas you can't be possibly considering this!" Weiss commanded as she approached the boy, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I- I'm not... Or at least, I don't think-" the teen began. Roxas found that beneath his fighting, beneath everything that had happened, beneath the fire that fueled everything he did, was a tired young boy. He was tired of all the fighting, of the seemingly never ending struggle, of all the things he was expected to just, _deal with_ and move on.

 _But what if I don't_ _ **want**_ _to deal with it anymore._

He quietly thought to himself.

"Stop that line of thought this instant! We don't know what will happen to you if this stranger takes you to wherever it may be this _Sora_ person is, not only that, what if he's lying? We have-"

The girl was suddenly cut off as Yang asked the man with a firm tone "What will happen to Roxas by returning to Sora?" Weiss and Roxas both turned to look at her before turning to look towards the stranger "You're making it sound like we'll have to say goodbye Roxas by letting him go with you." she turned to Weiss "We need to make sure what is happening before jumping to conclusions."

The man released a sigh before silence filled the room "Sora will absorb Roxas back into himself. They will become whole again."

The room grew quiet once more as the information set in their minds. Without a word Yang raised her fists, adopting her boxer fighting stance as she stared down the man.

"What are you doing?" he asked wary of the girl.

"I'm **not** going to let you take Roxas from us." she growled.

"That's right!" Weiss said stepping forward beside the girl "There's no chance that the three of us could fall to _you_." She smirked "So if you don't want to be pummeled, I suggest you take your leave." she said in a dangerous tone.

The man remained still for several seconds, seemingly unresponsive as he stared at the two girls "If that's the way it has to be." he said darkly before raising his weapon.

"Wait!" Roxas suddenly roared from behind the two girls.

Looks of confusion cemented themselves upon the girls expressions as they turned back towards the boy.

"What's wrong?" Weiss asked.

"I don't want you two to fight him." he said stubbornly.

Yang appeared insulted by the comment "You think we'll get in the way again? Seriously? After everything that has happened?"

"We can help Roxas." Weiss continued "We know that we can't do the things you can, but we can certainly help where we can."

"That's not what I mean." he said calmly "I … I don't want to fight at all." he said with a sigh.

The room filled with silence.

"You... don't want to fight?" Weiss asked sounding almost hurt in her words.

"Well... I... I don't know." he admitted, looking away from their gaze.

"Why?" Yang asked looking equally confused.

"Because...I, I'm tired of fighting." he said gesturing to all around them "I can't fight this battle all by myself. I can't protect those closest to me, I can't stop them from hurting people." he sighed frowning deeply, a resolute look crossing his features. Weiss watched his head turn towards the doorway, towards the hidden room she had found him in. He quietly gazed at the room with a sad eyes for several moments before continuing, finally understanding what he had always felt "I'm not enough." he grimaced, looking away from the concerned expressions of Yang and Weiss "But...But maybe… maybe if I was a part of Sora... if I was complete again... I'd actually be able to-"

"No!" Weiss shouted at him before storming towards the boy.

"Weiss... you don't understand I-" he began before she collided with him, wrapping him with her arms in a tight embrace.

Her lips rested at his ears as she said "No I understand completely." he could hear pain in her voice, her shoulders began to tremble and he could see wetness rolling down the side of her cheek "You think you're alone but you're **not** , you think you have to fight this battle alone but you **don't.** You're not alone, you don't have to shoulder everything by yourself, you have us." as she said this she pulled away, gesturing to Yang as well "We're here for you, we've been here for you, and I feel like I speak for all of us, even your friends at Beacon when I say that we're going to keep being here for you no matter what." she had to wipe her face, sniffing once before continuing "So please, don't give up, and don't go away, because you've been there for us, for **me**..." she paused, a looking deeply into his eyes "I don't want to think about what it'd be like without you... I'd miss you."

"We all would Roxas." Yang continued, approaching him "I know I've been... difficult with you... And I'm sorry for that. I haven't been fair to you... the way I've been treating you, but I never meant to make you feel like you can't trust me. I... I might have been mad at you for a little while... blamed you for things that weren't... your... fault." a look of shame crossed her features "I'm sorry for all of that. But I'm still your friend. I want you to know that hasn't changed at all. Besides, what about Ruby?" she said trying to form a smile, but Roxas could see real pain in her eyes "She'd miss you a whole lot, I know it. I mean, we still need to find the elixir for her so that we can all find out who the TRUE emperor of Remnant is."

Roxas's brow furrowed before he realized what she was talking about. She was referring to the board game they had all played together in the library, the one where Blake had destroyed Yang's forces with a 'system shutdown' card.

Roxas couldn't help but stifle a laugh "You're just mad that you lost." he said finding that he too had to wipe his face. His hand drew back wet.

Yang laughed too "Maybe, but we both know who was _supposed_ to win that one."

Weiss looked between the two children with a perplexed look "What on Remnant are you two talking about?"

Yang and Roxas met each other with a look before releasing a simultaneous laugh. It was several seconds of laughter before the two finally settled down. Their attention was pulled away from Weiss's still confused expression as the stranger cleared his throat.

"I hope I'm not interrupting something "He said sounding annoyed "But I thought we were about to fight. Unless, that is, you're choosing to come with me willingly."

Roxas's smile quickly fell as he took on a more pensive expression. He stepped forward standing just before the man, pausing to turn back towards his friends. As he stared at their concerned faces, a smile graced his lips once more. Their expressions visibly lit up from this as they smiled back at him. The anger in the boy's chest, that which had been fueling him this whole time, slowly began to dissipate, pushed out by another feeling, something warm and comforting, something he'd had before, but thought he'd lost. It wasn't something he could describe, it made him feel almost… happy, despite all that had happened. Finally,he found the words that he hadn't thought he'd had the strength to say just moments ago.

"No." he said still smiling as he turned back to the man "I can't. I'm sorry, but I'd be leaving behind too much if I left with you."

 _I'm not alone._

Roxas thought,

 _I don't have to be alone because I was never alone to begin with. I have my_ _ **friends**_ _. I will be enough… I can still do this._

The stranger's shoulders rose and deflated, signaling a sigh before he nodded "So be it." before swinging his Soul Eater towards Roxas's still form. The Boy responded with a speed Riku hadn't expected, diving under his swing and summoning his two keyblades in an instant. With a rising motion the boy swung the two weapons straight into the man's chest, sending him skidding back from the force.

The man growled as he readied himself for the next assault, eying Roxas with his blade raised. Roxas appeared calm as he stared down the man, he didn't appear to be expressing the same intensity as the stranger before him. His weapons rested calmly at his sides, standing in a lax position as he watched. He could tell that the stranger was studying him intently, looking for openings, comparing their speeds, trying to decide if his next attack would work or if he should wait for a counter attack. Although Roxas could tell he was being sized up, he couldn't quite do the same. With his anger somewhat lulled for the time being, he found another thought forming, something had been digging at the back of his mind for all of this time.

"Why are you trying so hard to save Sora?" Roxas suddenly blurted out.

He watched the man suddenly freeze, his shoulders tensed "What?"

"Why does it matter to you what happens to Sora? Who is he to you?"

He watched as the man seemed to struggle to form an answer, as if deciding as to whether or not he should answer the question. Finally his lips parts as he found his response "He's my friend." he said flatly.

"You're friend huh?" Roxas responded "Close friend I'm guessing for you to go through all this trouble to wake him up."

The man seemed hesitant with his responses, as if he were suspicious of Roxas for this line of questioning "He is."

"So..." the boy paused, thinking for a moment "What... what happens to him if I don't come back with you? What if you fail?"

His answer came swiftly "Then Sora never wakes up. He remains asleep until his other half returns to him."

"So, there's no other way to wake him up?" Yang chimed in "You can't just like, splash him with some really really cold water?"

The man shook his head "No... I, no there's no other way."

Weiss stepped forwards, an inquisitive tone to her words "You don't sound certain... is there a way that you aren't telling us?"

He looked down, appearing conflicted as he tried to form a response "I...I don't know."

There was a long pause before Yang said "I, I don't know if it's truly my place to say right now. I won't lie and say I understand this world, what 'Nobodies' are, or what exactly is going on. I've been lost throughout a lot of this." she said motioning to the castle around them. "But I think, I think if there's a way to bring your friend back without sacrificing our own." she said placing a hand on Roxas's shoulder "Then I think it's important we find it."

The Stranger didn't answer, but his weapon did slowly drop to his side as he looked down in contemplation.

Yang continued, moving towards the man "Look, I get it. You're willing to do anything to get your friend back. Ironically we came here for the exact same reason, to save my little sister. But I don't think you have to do this in order to bring your friend back." she had closed the distance between them now, she stood just before the stranger who turned his gaze away as she looked up at him.

She reached out and gently placed a hand on his arm. The man flinched as she did so, but eased quickly "I don't think you're a bad guy. You rescued from those cages even before you knew about Roxas. You healed us and helped us save Roxas too." she tried to see through the darkness his hood was providing, but couldn't find an expression to make out "I can tell your heart is in the right place. I can tell you don't _want_ to do this, that you don't want to have to take Roxas away from us. But you've been put between a rock and a hard place, and now you don't know what to do."

She briefly caught the man gazing back towards her, meeting her eyes for a short second and she could see shock in his face, as if he hadn't expected her to so accurately read him.

She grinned at him "Didn't think I was so observant didja? You've been trying to be like super reserved and mysterious, but honestly having to already deal with all of that from this guy-" she motioned with a thumb back towards Roxas "I could read you like a book."

The man sighed before saying "That doesn't change a thing. I still need to make sure Sora wakes up, and that means that I need Roxas to come with me. I don't know if there's a way to bring him back without his Nobody, but Diz said-" the man suddenly caught himself, seemingly stopping his sentence short.

"Diz?" Weiss repeated "Who's this 'Diz'?"

The man cursed under his breath before sighing "He's who has been helping with restore Sora."

"And he knew that Roxas was necessary to wake up Sora?" Weiss asked inquisitively.

The stranger nodded "He's the one who knows how to do it."

"Well then why don't we just talk to that guy?" Yang said bluntly "If he knows one way to wake up Sora than he probably knows another way."

"He's... he's never mentioned another way..." the man said in a conflicted tone.

"Can't hurt to ask!" Yang cheered as if she were talking to her friends around the lunch table again.

Yang stared up at the man with an expectant expression, as if she were waiting for him to agree with her.

"I... suppose." he finally uttered. This whole situation was very strange to him. Who were these people?

"Good! It's settled!" Yang cheered clapping the man on his shoulders as she did which required her to reach up a considerable amount due to his height "We'll finish looking through the castle for the elixir thing, heal my sis and then we'll all go talk to Diz and see what's up with Roxas's uh, Somebody, was it?" she said turning back towards Roxas for confirmation, he nodded "Cool! Let's roll!" she shouted before spinning around and marching towards the doorway out of the room as if the plan had already been agreed upon with the other three.

"Wait." The stranger commanded prompting a pause in Yang's step. The girl grimaced as she prepared for the man to refuse her proposition.

"What's wrong with your sister?"

Yang blinked several times as she made sure she had heard him right.

 _Does that mean he... agreed?_

In all reality she hadn't expected him to listen to her, but now that he hadn't directly deputed her suggestion, she didn't know what to think.

She turned around slowly, rubbing the back of her neck with a hand "Well you see," as she spoke her cheerful demeanor fell, replaced by a sudden sadness "My sister has sorta been in a coma for awhile... Roxas thought if got an 'elixir', then it might wake her up."

"An elixir?" he repeated. Yang watched as the man quickly unzipped his coat and reached in, ruffling through it's contents. The girl held a puzzled expression as he searched before his hand grip something tightly and pulled it out from his coat pocket. Resting in his open palm was what appeared like a large golden teardrop. The item had several star and moon carvings decorating the exterior encircling the top of the upside down teardrop.

Yang felt a swell in her chest as her gaze fell on the golden sphere, her eyes growing big as she began to connect what this had to be.

As if confirming her suspicion, she heard Roxas murmur under his breath "An... Elixir..." the girl turned back then, seeing that Roxas's expression was the same as her own before turning back and eying the object.

"No...Way..." she whispered under her breath.

* * *

The infirmary was dimly lit when the arrived, only the center lights were illuminating leaving the individual overhead bed lights off as per the protocol for the night. Yang approached the bed with quiet and delicate footsteps. In her hands rested the object which she carried gingerly as if it were as fragile as an egg. Finally reaching the bedside of her sister's unconscious form, she gulped, nervous that she would mess up.

She looked back to where Weiss and Roxas stood "What do I do?" she asked anxiously.

Roxas bore a calming smile "Just place the tip to her lips and let it pour into her mouth."

Yang slowly nodded before turning her attention back to the still form of Ruby. She slowly began to raise the orb to her sister's mouth before retreating.

The girl quickly turned back to her friends "Are you sure you don't want to do this Roxas? I mean, you've used this before and I really don't want to mess this up so can-"

"You'll do fine." Roxas said calmly, reassuringly. His smile was warm as he said "You're her sister, shouldn't you be the first one she sees when she wakes up?"

Yang slowly nodded, reflecting the boy's smile before turning back. She rose the elixir to Ruby's mouth, carefully parting the girls lips before spilling the substance down her throat. It took several seconds before Yang had poured all of the drink down and retreated from the bedside, holding the now empty container with both hands. The room was silent as the group stared at Ruby with expectant faces.

The girl didn't stir.

Roxas heard a sniffle and looked to Yang. Her shoulders were trembling as she dropped the golden container to the ground where it clanged against the tiled floor. Her hands went to her face as tears began to fall down her cheeks, dripping onto the floor as they fell.

"I-I thought, I thought this would work." the girl began to mumble as Roxas looked down, his smile transitioning into a frown. Weiss placed a hand on his shoulder, whispering that it wasn't his fault, but Roxas couldn't hear her.

 _I failed... I should have known that this wouldn't work, what a stupid idea-_

"Grrr, can you guys keep it down _*Yawn*_ I'm trying to... sleep..." mumbled a quiet voice only barely audible. The whole group froze as they looked up and saw Ruby roll over, facing her back towards them as she pulled the sheet up and over her head.

Yang turned back towards Roxas and Weiss with a shocked smile before whipping back around and cheering out "RUBY!" the girl raced to the bedside tearing off the blanket cover as she did so.

Roxas found an uncontrollable smile curl from his lips as he too dashed to Ruby's bedside along with Weiss.

"Ruby you're awake!" Yang almost screamed as she pulled the girl from the bed to be wrapped into the blonde's arms.

"Yeah now I am..." Ruby mumbled grumpy from being woken up. The girl rubbed her eyes groggily before saying "Who could sleep with how loud you're shouting."

Yang was crying again, but this time Roxas could tell that it was from happiness. She smiled as she pulled away, holding her sister's shoulders looking her up and down.

"You're awake again, you're finally awake!" she cheered.

After finally opening her eyes Ruby adopted a puzzled look "Yang... Yang you're crying, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

The raven haired girl was pulled into a tight hug as Yang bellowed "Better than ever now."

Ruby's chin rested on Yang's shoulder as she accepted the hug and Roxas could see the girl finally taking in her surroundings.

"Wait, where am I? I thought I was... is this not my bed?"

Yang let out a laugh as she ignored the comment and just kept hugging her sister.

Ruby's eyes eventually met with Roxas and then Weiss as she scanned the room "Roxas? Weiss? How? Why? I'm very confused right now."

Roxas couldn't help but chuckle at her perplexed expression.

"Hey Ruby. We'll explain everything in a little bit. I think Yang just wants to hug you for a bit."

" _*Sniff*_ Nope! Not just me!" Yang announced "You two are getting into this too!" she gestured with an open arm for the two to enter the hug.

Roxas rolled his eyes with a smile before stepping forward and allowing himself to be enveloped into the hug.

Weiss stayed put, appearing embarrassed as she said "That's quite alright, Ruby and I aren't very close I feel so I think I'm-"

"Hey!" Yang shouted sounding almost angry "You risked your butt just as much as the rest of us so you're jumping into this group hug whether you want to or not!"

Weiss appeared stunned from the girl's brassiness.

"Don't make me let go of my sister to drag you over here!" Yang said still smiling.

Weiss also rolled her eyes before a thin smile graced her lips and she stepped forward. She paused as she tried to identify where she should enter the group hug, but Yang's outstretched hand soon solved the issue and she was yanked into the group with a 'whoa!'.

Ruby called out with a smile "I'm being squished! Ahhh! And I still don't know why!"

The group laughed from her outburst. Roxas had his cheek squished against Ruby's and laughed as she said "Hey," with her words obscured from her squished cheek.

"Hey," he said with the same obscuration.

"You know when we're gonna be released from this hug?" she asked in a casual joking manner.

Roxas did his best to smile with his cheek pushed against Ruby's "Not the slightest clue."

Ruby laughed before her eyes started to wonder across the room. Roxas assumed it was due to trying to understand where she was. Roxas watched as the girl's gaze fell on the entrance to the room.

"Who's that?" she said with concern.

Roxas followed her gaze and saw what she was looking at. The stranger stood resting against the door frame with his arms crossed. Although his hood remained up, it was clear to Roxas that his gaze was on them.

"Nothing to worry about." Roxas said, his jovial attitude diminishing as he expressed a more serious tone.

 _He's just here to make sure our deal is honored. To make sure that I stay true to my word._

Roxas tried to push the thought to the back of his mind as he closed his eyes, just trying to appreciate that his friend was finally back again.

"It'll be okay." he murmured more to himself than to anyone else.

 _Or at least. I hope it will be._

* * *

Demyx sighed as his head fell back onto the concrete wall. His gaze lazily peered out through the bars of his cell as he sat bored on the bench. Halfheartedly, he reached out a hand and tried for the umpteenth time to summon a Dark corridor for him to escape this place. His hand trembled as he focused with all of his might on the task.

Nothing happened.

The man groaned as his let his arm drop to his side before he turned his head to stare out of the small window that had been provided. Outside he could barely see people walking about, cars whizzing by, birds flying through the sky, and people generally _enjoying_ what he no longer had.

 _Freedom._

"Damn that old man..." the Nobody murmured to himself. Whatever the headmaster had done to him, it seemed to have been permanent. He couldn't summon a corridor, couldn't summon his Sitar, nor could he summon even a single Nobody to his aid. He felt powerless.

"This sucks so muuuch..."

Although he wasn't to be locked up for a very long time since the only real crime he had committed was attempt to assault a student, but he was extremely disappointed nonetheless. He knew that even once he got out of this jail cell, he would still be trapped.

 _Trapped on this dumb world..._

He lazily thought to himself.

 _What to do... what to do..._

The only person he knew of on this world capable of sending him back was Roxas, which was basically impossible since the boy would most likely never willing send him back to the very people attempting to _kill_ him. That left one other option, for him to linger around the boy, try not to be discovered, until another Organization member eventually made an attack on the teen. That would most likely be his only chance of escape. That had been the plan Demyx had been forming during his duration in the cell, although he knew it was riddled with holes.

For one how would he be able to sneak around Roxas without being discovered? He had never been one for stealth, and now that his abilities were gone he stood zero chance against the child if he were caught. What more, even if he _did_ manage to catch one of the other members of Organization XIII as they were planning to engage Roxas, Demyx could picture them not _wanting_ to take him back.

"Who'd want a member who can't do anything?" he quietly whispered to himself. He figured once the organization found out he'd lost his abilities, they would most likely dismiss him as a member. Despite his lazy attitude, he understood that no one at the Organization was a freeloader, which was why he was forced to frequently work despite his desire not to.

The man sighed as he fell onto his side, laying on the bench with his arm hanging over the edge. He closed his eyes as he murmured to himself "No one wants me..."

 _Nobody wants a Nobody._

He thought with an ironic edge.

His ears perked up as he heard a commotion down the hall. It sounded like three voices, each grunting as they seemed to be struggling with something. Two of the voices he recognized, they were the voices of the regular guards he knew to patrol these cells, the third voice was a mystery, and appeared to be doing the most complained out of the three.

"Hey! Watch it!" the voice complained "Do you know who I am? I'm more important than either of you will ever be! I've done more in a year than you two have- hey! Watch the hair-Ow!"

Demyx noticed that the trio of voices were quickly getting louder as they approached his cell. He sat up, suddenly interested in who the knew _prisoner_ was today.

"Quiet struggling!" a deep and masculine voice ordered. Demyx knew this man. This was Jeremy, a regular guard who seemed to like Demyx, if only a little.

"I will once you drop me! Do you know what I could do for you two? I could make you rich if you let me! Do you understand?"

The trio of men entered Demyx's field of vision, stopping just outside of his cell as one of them, Stanly, began fiddling with the keys. The slim man trying to wrestle his way out of Jeremy's beefy arms bore a pale complexion with vibrant orange hair that formed bangs covering his right eye. Demyx thought it strange to see eyeliner on a man, further pronouncing his already long eyelashes, the man appeared visibly distressed as he nearly pulled his arm free from Jeremy.

"Listen to me you two! You can make it a lot easier on yourselves if you just-"

The cell door swung forward and the man was thrown in, landing face first onto the hard concrete floor.

The cell door was closed and locked a moment later as the man continued "-Let me go..." he grumbled as he pushed himself off the ground and rubbed his sore face.

"See if you can calm this one down Demyx. He'll be your new 'roommate' for the time being." Jeremy said giving Demyx a nod before the two guards left.

The strange man rose to his feet brushing off his shirt as he did so. He wore the standard orange jumpsuit but seemed to trying to keep his pristine.

He ran over to the bars and shouted with a wave of his hands "You two are going to regret doing that!" he grumbled to himself, forming a sneer before turning around and seemingly just noticing that another person resided in his cell.

A look of surprise washed over his face before it was replaced with a sinister looking grin.

"Why hello." he said sounding much more formal than his previous outburst. He took a step forward, offering his hand "I'm Torchwick, Roman Torchwick. A pleasure to meet you."

Demyx casted a sideways stare in the man's direction. Without saying a word, he reached out and grasped the man's hand.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_ _Now I know that I'm going to be getting several reviews telling me that this chapter felt short, and that's fair considering that the last two chapters have been some monster sized chapters and this is finally a return to the typical length of my chapters. It felt good to reach the 5000 word marker and know that I didn't need like, twice as much length to tie up the chapter (Phew!). Anyhow, this is a chapter I've been wanting to write for a long time now. In fact, that last section with Torchwick was something I had planned to insert several chapters ago, but by the time I found an appropriate stopping point for Roxas's storyline, I had already written like, twice as much as I had been planning, so I decided to push back this little plan. I look forward to seeing the speculations from all the reviewers trying to guess what's about to go down next chapter (Something I look forward to! Especially when They're soooo close to getting it right, plus sometimes I draw ideas from the reviews in all honesty.)._

 _Speaking of which... It appears I'll have to make a few unwilling changes to my stories. Unfortunately the 'critics united' organization within the fanfiction website has contacted me telling me I'm violating the rules by responding to all of reviews I receive after the chapter. So from now on I won't be able to do that or run the risk of having my story deleted. They cannot directly delete, but they can report the story into the ground with how many members they appear to have. I've worked on this story for over a year now, and I don't want to see it destroyed. That being said, I will still respond to all reviews via PM as usual, it will just take me some time to do. Unfortunately this means that those of you without an account will not be able to receive my response so I implore you to form an account so that I will still be able to interact with your awesome review!_

 _Until next time!_


	23. Chapter 23: Number IX

A quiet sigh escaped his lips as he sat atop the ledge of the building. Below him was the familiar sight of the school yard. It's intricate and sophisticated stone arches lining a pathway running parallel to the main walkway into the school doors.

A thin smile graced his lips as the cool night air gently brushed against his cheeks. His eyes were tired, but he couldn't bring himself to come down to bed. Something about the whole idea of just sleeping after such a seemingly massive series of events felt wrong.

It was bizarre to think about. All of the events leading to now had all occurred in a matter of hours, within the same night. Roxas felt exhausted, but at the same time wired, as if he shouldn't fall asleep.

 _I should enjoy this while I can... because I don't know if I'll be getting much more of this soon._

The boy quickly washed the thought away with a shake of his head. He wouldn't be able to enjoy this moment if he kept dwelling on what was going to come tomorrow. He looked towards the horizon. The sun would be rising in less than an hour. He would enjoy that when it came.

"I knew you'd be here." said a quiet voice.

Roxas's smile grew wider, not turning to look as a figure sat down beside him "I should have guessed you would."

"Shouldn't you get some sleep?" Ruby asked with a furrowed brow.

Roxas shrugged "Probably, but I can't seemed to bring myself to." he turned to look at her, she had changed out of her hospital clothes and was wearing her typical battle skirt outfit. Her hair was lightly damp, indicating that she had come from a shower. Roxas noted that she smelled pleasant as she sat beside him.

"What about you? Doesn't school start in a few hours?"

Ruby chuckled "From what you all have been telling me, I think I've gotten enough sleep for a few weeks let alone a single night."

Roxas joined in her laughter "Yeah, that's probably right."

Their laughter died down, and the two turned to watch as small beam of sunlight began to spill over the horizon, slowly growing as it filled the courtyard.

"Thank you Roxas." Ruby said quietly.

"You've already thanked me Ruby." Roxas said in return, still bearing a faint smile.

"I know but... Yang told me all about what you had to do in order to wake me up... and well, I felt maybe you deserved a few more 'thank yous' after all that..."

Roxas's smile faded as his mind replayed the night's events in his head. Flashes of his battles, of his friends being hurt, of him being hurt, and finally, of the girl, the _child_ -

Roxas clasped his eyes closed as he did his best to push the thought away.

"Your welcome." Roxas responded with an empty tone.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see the girl present a confused expression, as if she didn't know what she'd done wrong.

"It's okay." he said without much enthusiasm "It's not your fault."

As if on cue the girl's eyes flashed with realization "Oh! Ummm, I'm sorry. I'm sure it was... quite the hardship for you."

Roxas shrugged again "I'm beginning to learn that's life."

Ruby froze in shock of the cynical response. She opened her mouth to retort but closed it, studying the ground as she tried to form a response.

"It doesn't have to be!" she finally blurted out "It can be fun and enjoyable!"

Roxas felt his lips slowly peel into a smile "I know." he turned back to her "You've showed me that."

The boy noticed her cheeks suddenly turn a bright shade of red from his comment.

 _I wonder why people do that..._

Roxas pondered the question for several seconds before realizing _she's your friend, just ask her!_

"Hey. Why did you do that?" he said pointing to her face.

"Do what?" she asked concerned as she raised a hand to her face "Is there something there?"

"Well..." he said puzzled "It's not there now... but you... you turned all red for a second."

"Oh!" she said looking away, her cheeks turning red again.

"Yeah! That!" he said pointing a finger.

Ruby giggled lightly before responding "That's called blushing Roxas. It happens sometimes when someone is embarrassed."

"...Oh." he turned away, looking into the courtyard. After several moments he turned back "I embarrassed you?"

"Well I mean, yes, not intentionally. I just didn't expect your compliment."

"Oh... so... compliments... can embarrass people..." he mumbled barely audible "Good to know..."

Their conversation slowed as the subtle sound of crickets filled the morning air.

"So... I realized something earlier while taking a shower." Ruby said in a dark tone, looking down with a frown.

Roxas's face grew concerned "What's that?"

"I...I..." Roxas could see tears beginning to form at the corner of her eyes "I have weeks of homework to make up!" she pleaded with exasperation.

Roxas blinked a few times, registering the words before he couldn't contain his laughter.

"It's not funny! Do you remember how hard it was to get you back up to date?!" she playfully shoved his shoulder in annoyance.

"I'm sorry!" he exclaimed "I just can't believe you're thinking about that right now."

"Of course I am! That's several nights of no sleep ahead of me getting homework done!" Ruby complained.

Roxas's lips created a mischievous grin before saying "Aren't you the one who told me that you've gotten enough sleep for a few _weeks_ let alone a few nights?"

Ruby raised a finger to dispute but soon couldn't contain her own laughter.

The courtyard echoed with laughter as the sun raised into the sky.

* * *

"So... what exactly are _you_ in here for?" Demyx asked studying the man in front of him with a wary expression. The two were sitting across from one and other, one sitting on the depressed bed mattress, the other on a bench across the room.

"Only for being the most incredible thief Beacon has ever seen!" he exclaimed with a flourish Demyx had come to expect from the man.

"...But you were caught... wouldn't being the 'greatest thief of Beacon' mean you don't get caught?"

The scowl Demyx received made the Nobody raise an eyebrow.

"Well you _see_ ," he said his words laced with annoyance "It's okay for a thief to be caught, that's how people know that _you_ were the one who stole from them." his smile returned "I mean, I wouldn't want someone _else_ getting the credit for _my_ work after all."

Demyx nodded "I guess."

"But what matters is that a thief doesn't _stay_ caught." he said with a knowing tone.

"...What... do you mean?"

"Well you see, the authorities have ordered that I be detained in this rather _unimpressive_ facility for the time being until my _special_ prison, is ready for my arrival."

The Nobody noted that the man seemed almost proud of that fact.

"However, to their most predictable dismay my stay here is going to be cut short _considerably._ "

Demyx's eyes peeled at this statement, did that mean he planned to...!

"You're going to escape!?" Demyx said in a surprised shock. Without his abilities, Demyx hadn't even considered the possibility of escaping. He felt so weak without his Sitar, how normal people dealt with the mediocrity he could never understand.

Roman scowled, raising a finger to his lips as he scolded in a harsh whisper "Perhaps you'd like to shout that out a little louder there! I'm sure there's people in Vale who didn't hear you!"

The Nobody shrunk down on the bed "Sorry," he whispered back "But how?"

Roman's characteristic grin returned as he said as if trying to show off "Well you see. I have some **very** important and powerful friends on the outside. I'm sure they're on their way right now."

he paused looking out confidently further into the prison expectantly. After several moments of silence he sighed, his shoulders slumping slightly.

"But for now," he continued "It appears I'm stuck here." he crossed his arms before looking back towards Demyx "So what are you in here Blondie?"

The Nobody's blue eyes flickered with excitement as his mind reeled over the prospect of escaping, clearly not paying attention to Roman as he repeated his question.

"Hey! Space cadet! Remnant to Demyx!? Come in!"

Demyx blinked rapidly as he was brought out of his trance "Huh?"

"I was asking you about what you got thrown in here for kid."

"Oh." The Nobody paused as he reflected on the events that transpired to deliver him here.

"I guess I attacked a kid..." he admitted.

Roman reared his head back, looking bewildered "Wait, what do you mean by that?"

Demyx could recognize the slowly forming look of disgust on the man's features and quickly added "Well I didn't want to! I was only supposed to distract him for a little bit while my teammate went and kidnapped some girl."

The look of disgust written on Roman's features were cemented at this point "There's a lot of wrong in this world that I'm okay with, Stealing, murder, fraud, but pedophiles are some of the few monsters that I can't stand." he spat.

"Pedophiles...?" Demyx rolled the term around in his mouth a few times before coming to the realization of what the man assumed of him.

"No, No, No! It was nothing like that!" he exclaimed.

Roman's eyebrows furrowed "Well, what was it then?"

"I, well, no you see we were only stealing the girl because we thought it would let us black mail the other kid into doing stuff for us."

"Blackmail?" Roman's grimace quickly shifted into a devious grin "Ah! That's the best way to get things done, forcing others to do it for you." he quickly crossed the room and sat down beside Demyx, resting an arm around his shoulder "Tell me now, what did ya need the little twit to do for you? Pose as a cute distraction for a heist planned?

"Well...no not exactly,you see I-" Demyx's sentence was cut short as a massive boom echoed from down the hall towards the guard's station.

Roman held up a finger motioning the Nobody to pause his sentence "Hold that thought." he said as his lips peeled back in an excited smile "It appears my ride is here."

The Nobody jumped to his feet at that moment, moving to the bars to try and peek through towards where the boom had come from. He couldn't make out anything, but he could hear the cries of pain and the sickening sound of a limp body striking the hard ground multiple times.

It was less than a minute before the sounds a struggle went quiet. Roman casually rose from his seat in that moment stretching as if getting over a long rest, despite only being in the cell for the better half of a few hours.

"Well Demyx, it's been a pleasure talking to you, _truly._ " The man pulled the Nobody away from the bars and positioned himself in front of the cell door, holding his arms behind his back expectantly.

Demyx felt his breath quicken as he heard the sound of heels clicking against the cement floor in their direction. After a few moments a peculiar looking girl with both brown and pink hair split down the seem appeared, wearing one of the guard's uniform hats on her head. She grinned as her eyes met with Roman's.

"Excuse me guard, but I have somewhere very important to be right now and it seems I won't be able to complete my sentence here. You wouldn't mind letting me go a _little_ early now would you?" he said coyly, trying to sound as remorseful as he could while snickering.

Playing along, the girl tapped a finger to her chin staring up towards the ceiling as if contemplating the offer. After a few moments she shrugged and nodded, pushing a key into the lock and producing a loud _CLICK_.

Roman swung the door open with a relaxed demeanor, stepping out and shaking the girl's hand "Why thank you ma'am, I'm glad _someone_ here could see reason."

The young woman nodded smiling up at him. It was only as Roman stood beside her that Demyx realized just how short she was. The Nobody was inclined to believe that she even fell short of Roxas in height, and that was a statement.

Demyx quickly moved towards the door, excited to get out when it swung close behind Roman, locking again with a loud click.

"What?" the Nobody asked confused.

"I'm sorry pal, but you see, we can't be having you leave because then you're a liability. Besides," he said motioning to the cells adjacent to his own "If we let _you_ out, then _everybody_ is going to want out. And we just don't have the time for that now do we?"

As he said that he turned back towards the girl who shook her head with an exaggerated frown before turning to Demyx and wiping a fake tear away.

The Nobody stood in a stunned silence as the pair started to walk away. Demyx snapped out of his trance as Roman called back "I hope you can understand pal, no hard feelings!"

"Wait!" he said rushing back to the bars "Come back! Please!" he didn't care what he needed to say to get out of this cell "Take me with you! I'll do anything!"

He could hear their footsteps growing fainter as they continued down the hall. Roman's voice called back "Sorry buddy, but I doubt you have anything that we'd want from you or want you to do for us!"

"But I, I can, I-" Demyx reflected on his abilities, his control of water, of his ability to summon and manipulate the darkness to form the corridors that could transport him world to world. He thought about his Nobodies, the dancers, that swayed and moved to the strums of his Sitar, his _Arpeggio_. His fingers faintly strummed at the air, his muscle memory seizing control before his hands tightened into balls of fists.

 _No._

He thought to himself, shaking his head in frustration.

 _I_ _ **used**_ _to be able to all of those things, All of those amazing things that made me more than just some basic, useless,_ _ **Nobody.**_

He felt a growl rumble from his throat.

 _Now I can't do any of that any more! Now I can't leave this_ _ **horrible**_ _world, I can't go back to eventually getting my Heart back. Everything means_ _ **Nothing**_ _again, just like it did when I became me._

Demyx raised his hands and gripped the bars tightly, knowing that his physical strength would do little in the form of freeing him.

 _And it's all because of that stupid old man! All because Axel and I failed in our mission to effectively bring number XIII back. And that's only because he selfishly decided to run away! It's all his fault! That brat is the reason I'm in this mess!_

Demyx could hear them opening the doors into the main hall towards the exit and slammed his hands against the bars, rattling them as he shouted in an uncharacteristic rage "Damn You Roxas! You did this to me!"

The young man slumped to the ground, staring at the floor as he did so. Murmuring to himself he asked "Not like me to be all serious like that..." Demyx knew that the rest of the Organization thought of him as the lazy one, but he liked the reputation. He liked being viewed as the calm and relaxed one, regardless of the fact that it was the views from people who couldn't really have emotion, pretenders that didn't actually care so they couldn't actually have views about him.

 _Don't forget to include yourself in that lot._

Demyx thought as he reminded himself that he had only _acted_ mad because he knew that's probably how a **Someone** would feel about the hand he'd been dealt in the recent couple weeks. He knew that the Organization, the only place he knew he actually fit in, wasn't looking for him. It had been several weeks since he'd been locked up in this cell, and there wasn't a sliver of hope in his mind that they would come and rescue him. Besides, even if they **had** none where he was being held captive, they wouldn't send someone down to **save** him of all things. They were Nobodies, He was a Nobody, that meant that no one cared about each other, that they didn't actually care about **him.** They saw him as a tool, a weapon, a servant valuable only from what he could do for them with his abilities. Now that those were gone, he had no value whatsoever.

Demyx lifted his head as his brows furrowed. He hadn't heard the door close behind them. He was well accustomed to the sound that accompanied the entrance and exit of the often shifting guards of the jail. It was odd to him that he hadn't heard the echoing sound of the heavy door _THUD_ as it shut.

"Maybe they broke the door..." he whispered to himself curiously. It hadn't sounded like something had broken the door but anything was possible since he hadn't gotten to see the fight.

He picked out the sound of a quiet whisper before footsteps started echoing **towards** him.

"What?" he lifted his head, peering out past the bars once again as the two figures appeared in front of him once more. He could discern looks of puzzlement written on their faces as they studied him.

"What name did you just say?" Roman asked in a serious tone, one Demyx hadn't heard the man use before.

"Huh?" the Nobody responded.

"That name." Roman continued "Repeat it."

"...Ro-xas?" Demyx asked with uncertainty.

Roman turned to the girl who gave him a serious nod. He turned back with a frown.

"My associate here told me that the name you just mentioned is the name of the boy who got me locked up in this barbaric place."

The Nobody slowly rose to his feet, his face still inches from the bars "Is that right..." the man murmured.

 _Just what have you been up to while you've been here Roxas?_

Being lost in his thoughts, Demyx failed to react as Roman's hand shot into the cell and grabbing him by the collar before slamming his face into the steel bars.

"Ark! Hey!" Demyx exclaimed in distress, his head ringing now.

"Shut up and tell me everything you know about him!" Roman demanded.

"Hey! What are you two doing back there? We don't have all day!" complained a new voice from down the hall. The voice was masculine and young as hurried footsteps approached the cell.

"Emerald can't keep distracting everyone as they walk by the entrance, she's going to tire out eventually." A young man stepped in front of the cell beside the girl. He bore dark gray hair with bangs that fell down the side of his face. His face was a pale complexion with deep gray eyes as he frowned turning to stare at Roman in confusion.

"What the hell are you doing?!" he complained again "We don't have time for you to start beating up random cellmates! We gotta get going!"

Roman's previous cheerful demeanor had all but vanished, snarling, he said "This guy knows about the brat who got me locked up in this place to begin with! I **will** take as much time as I'd **like** to find out what I need to make sure I get that brat back for what he did to me!"

The well built young man rolled his eyes, crossing his arms as he did so "Whatever man," he said uncaring "You're the one who'll have to take it up with Cinder."

Roman turned his attention away from the teen and glared intensely at Demyx "Now talk!"

"Okay okay!" the Nobody complied "He's a runaway from my Organization. Me and a few others were sent to collect him and force him to return but he's been a major thorn in our side for a while now. But trust me, even though we come from the same Organization, he and I are **not** friends, he's the entire reason I'm here in the first place!"

Torchwick's eyes narrowed that this comment before releasing the Nobody's collar.

"I see. An enemy of my enemy is my friend." he nodded before the girl behind him tugged on his sleeve.

"hmmm?" murmured as she motioned him to lean down. He did, and Demyx could see the girl cup her hands between her mouth and his ear supposedly whispering something to him. His eyes lit up from whatever her comment was.

"That's right!" the man exclaimed, his flamboyant nature returning he returned his attention to Demyx and asked "By being in the same 'Organization' as this brat does that mean that you have access to the same tools as he did?"

"Um... well that depends... I can't summon the Keyblades like he can... but-"

"I don't care about those stupid swords he had!" Roman snapped before taking a breath and smiling "I'm sorry, But Mercury here is right in saying that we _are_ technically pressed for time at the moment, so please don't waste it."

"I... uh... what do you want... to know then?" Demyx responded confused.

Torchwick rolled his eyes at the comment, obviously annoyed "The portal thing! Can you do the portal thing or not!?"

"Portal thing?..." the Nobody thought over the comment for a few moments before exclaiming "Oh! You mean the Dark Corridor! Yeah I can do that!"

A smile developed from the man's lips "Excellent, I saw that 'Roxas' fellow do something bizarre with a blackness and suddenly he was on my plane, appearing from seemingly nowhere. All this time during incarceration I've wondered over that moment, of just _how_ he had managed to get on my vessel when the doors had already been closed."

"Hehe, right." the Nobody chuckled, feeling like he'd finally started to make some leeway towards getting let out of his cell.

"But wait." the man named 'Mercury' interjected "I've it's true that you can do what Neo has described to us." he said motioning to the girl; It was nice to put a name to the face. "Then why haven't you escaped already? You're not telling me that some 'steel bars' are you only weakness are you?"

Roman's eyes narrowed at the comment "That's right..." he seemed to mumble to himself "What gives Demyx? Why do you need **me** to open the cell when you could very well just warp out."

Demyx felt a sweat run down the side of his face as he stuttered trying to come up with a reasonable response "I-Well you see, I can- Well no-" the Nobody could hear a new pair of footsteps walking down the hall towards them, but he couldn't focus on that at the moment.

 _I'm losing them! I won't be able to escape if I don't come up with something quick!_

After several more seconds of stunned silence a sigh escaped from Demyx's lips, finally giving up on finding the right answer.

"The truth is..." Demyx looked away not wanting to meet their gazes of scrutiny "I used to be able to do that, I used to be able to form a Corridor of Darkness and do a bunch of other cool things too... But then the headmaster at that dumb school Roxas was going to... did something to me. I think his name was Osipin? Maybe Oxpin? Anyway he somehow took away my powers..." his shoulders slumped "I'm useless now. Just leave. Sorry for wasting your time." the young Nobody turned and crossed the room, plopping down on his bed in defeat before looking up and frowning. The group were no longer staring at him, instead they had all turned to face whoever was walking towards them down the hallway with a leisurely pace. The steps were loud, suggesting heels as they clicked again the cement floor.

Demyx watched Roman grow nervous "Ah, Sorry, this guy just said some really interesting stuff and I thought he would be valuable. It seems I was wrong, we can go now, no need to get angry of course since we're not too late-"

He quieted himself as a woman stepped into view, raising a hand for him to be silent. Her skin was a smooth, soft peach complexion as she stared at him with piercing, beautiful amber eyes. Or, eye, Demyx would describe it as her ash colored mid length hair managed to cover her left eye in a manner that drew the Nobody's attention. Demyx also noted that while the others wore outfits that relatively matched the nature of a prison break, she broke that trend with a off the shoulders dark red velvet dress that only managed to reach just past the start of her thighs, revealing smooth white legs further emphasized by a pair of dark high heeled pumps enveloping her feet.

Demyx noted that the woman's demeanor demanded respect, moving in a manner that suggested that she was in charge. She reminded him of Xemnas in that regard.

"You should give yourself more credit Roman" she said in a smoky, almost seductive voice "You may actually have found something... interesting..." her lips curled up into a grin as she looked Demyx up and down. The Nobody found himself speechless watching her with the same intensity that he had with Xemnas.

"You said you abilities were stripped away from you by Professor _Ozpin_ , correct?" she asked in a collected tone.

Demyx had to shake himself out of his frozen state before nodding.

Her smile grew wider, if only slightly "Well then, It seems I may know someone who can help you with that problem."

The door swung open a few moments later, and Demyx felt his body tense as he slowly exited the cell he'd gotten so used to. He turned to the woman who despite being shorter than him made him feel small by standing beside her.

She extended a hand which made him flinch and said "I'm glad we found you _Demyx_ ," the way she said his name almost made him feel like an _item_ , like she didn't recognize him as a person, but rather a tool.

 _Well she's technically right about that, but she shouldn't know that... I don't think._

The Nobody managed to respond with another head nod, taking the woman's hand and shaking it. Her fingers were soft and delicate, but firm and stiff at the same time. Demyx felt like he had just wrapped his fingers around a snake.

"My name is Cinder," she said while turning away and heading towards the door. Demyx noticed the others all fall behind her, and quickly followed.

"Don't worry Demyx," he could hear the smile in her voice "We'll make sure that you're in _good hands_."

The Nobody felt a chill run down his spine as she said these words, and for the first time since he'd become a Nobody, he couldn't tell if he was faking it anymore.

* * *

Ruby smiled as she walked down the energetic corridor. Her fellow classmates briskly moved past her, rushing to class as she did the same. She found Professor Port's classroom with ease and stepped in feeling almost nostalgic even though to her she had been here only yesterday.

She turned to where Pyrrha and Jaune were eagerly awaiting her arrival, waving with bright smiles as she approached. They had been absolutely ecstatic when she'd entered their dorm, most likely waking the entire hallway of students as they called her name in shock. They'd stayed up the rest of the night playing games and catching up, leaving the two groggy but seemingly still excited about the day. The raven haired girl raised an eyebrow as she noticed that Roxas wasn't in class yet, his seat empty.

 _Probably got too sleepy to go to class or something._

Ruby shrugged, sitting next to her friends who quickly began whispering to her with a summary about the things she'd missed while gone. Ruby listened eagerly before the booming voice of Port bellowed her name.

Ruby flinched, assuming she had been busted for talking during class as she quickly turned her attention towards the man, but instead of the annoyed frown she had been expecting, it appeared he was bearing a happy smile in its place.

"Ruby Rose." he said in a calm demeanor, something rare for him to express "I'm glad to see that you've recovered. The class hasn't been the same without you."

Ruby felt her lips curl up into a smile as she nodded "Thank you. I'm glad to be back." the class moved forward without any more delays as he moved onto the topic of a strange looking Grimm, some Scorpion looking beast. Ruby found herself struggling to listen as her eyes continued to return towards Roxas's empty seat with a concerned frown.

 _He didn't look_ _ **that**_ _tired when we spoke on the roof..._

She couldn't understand why he enjoyed being up there so much, but she had to admit it was far more peaceful than most places in the school.

In an attempt to see if Roxas would be coming in late, Ruby continuously glanced towards the entrance doors. About fifteen minutes into class, one of her glances landed on Yang, who was looking in her direction. Ruby tried to meet her sister's eyes, thinking that the girl was trying to catch her eye, but found Yang absently _ignoring_ her, seemingly focusing on something else.

 _What?_

Ruby could make out her sister's expression of confusion before doing her best to follow her gaze. It seemed that she was... staring at Roxas's empty seat?

 _Is she concerned too?_

As Ruby thought this she saw her sister's gaze shift and turn towards another section of the room. Again Ruby traced her sister's gaze and saw that it had fallen on yet _another_ empty seat in the classroom. Ruby racked her brain trying to remember who sat there normally, but the weeks away seemed to have actually had an affect on her memory. After several minutes of thought she finally remembered the face that sat there normally.

 _...Weiss!_

Why was her sister staring at where Weiss of all people used to sit? It made no sense as far as Ruby could tell. The young girl turned back to examine her seemingly distressed sister only to see Yang's facial expression had shifted into shock. Her eyes wide and her mouth agape, as if she had just realized something, Yang abruptly stood from her seat.

Port turned and raised an eyebrow towards the girl "Yes Yang? Is something Wrong?"

"I uh," she started, stammering. Ruby realized that she hadn't seen her sister stammer before like this "I need to use the restroom, emergency." she said already making her way down the row.

"Oh, I see well please be diligent and don't loiter in the hall." the teacher said b before returning to his lesson. Ruby watched as her sister nearly ran out of the door. Ruby's eyes peeled as her curiosity turned into concern. Was something happening that her sister needed to help with? Why was she staring towards where Roxas and Weiss sat usually? And why were the two of them gone?

Ruby frowned as she concluded something had to be going on. As her sibling had, she immediately rose to her feet before making her way to the door.

"Ruby Rose!" Professor port announced with a frown "Now what has you up and about?"

 _Shoot!_

Ruby thought as she turned back towards the teacher, searching the cavities of her mind trying to find an excuse.

"I, I need to..." Ruby blushed as she froze trying to find an excuse, finally she remembered one that her father had used once to get them out of a boring parent teacher conference when she was younger "I think I left my oven on, I have to go check on it! Sorry!" she didn't check to see his response as she raced out of the door.

Her head whipped back and forth as she scanned the hallway before noticing Yang turn a corner out of view. Ruby's shoes clicked rapidly as she sprinted down the hallway. She rounded the corner in a moment, a flurry of rose petals scattering through the hallway behind her as she saw her sister ascend the stairs. She followed behind from a distance, waiting until the blonde rounded a corner before using her semblance to catch up. She could tell that Yang was moving with purpose as she continued towards where ever her destination seemed to be.

Ruby's eyes peeled as she watched her sister enter the RNBY dorm room, shutting the door behind her.

 _What? She ran all that way to go back to bed?_

The raven haired girl strained her ears as she could clearly tell that her sister was rummaging for _something_ within the room.

Ruby started to slow approach the door, seeing if maybe she could press her ear to the door to listen better. Just as she took her first step out into the hallway the door opened and Yang ran out, turning her back to Ruby as she raced down the hallway again.

Ruby jumped as her sister opened the door, falling to her butt, but failing to be noticed as the blonde raced down the hallway without a word. Ruby's eyebrows furrowed however when she realized what Yang had been wearing. The girl had changed out of her student uniform and was now wearing a black trench coat appearing almost identical to the one that she had seen Roxas wear on multiple occasions, that she had seen _Axel_ wearing as well.

 _What in Remnant is going on here?_

Ruby quickly raced after her sister, transforming into a wave of rose petals as she did so.

* * *

Ruby followed her oblivious sister outside and around the school, hovering behind a storage shed behind Beacon academy. Peering her head out Ruby could see Yang jog up to Weiss and Roxas, both also wearing the same coat as she.

 _What the...?_

Beside them was a tall imposing man, his face masked by his hood, also wearing the same coat as her friends and sister.

 _Is Weiss my friend?_ Ruby thought to herself, they'd never actually interacted with one and other aside from that time she'd gotten mad at the girl over Roxas. She shook her head, dismissing the thought.

 _I shouldn't think about that now, something more important is going on right now._

The group were too far away to hear, but were clearly talking to one and other as Weiss appeared to be scolding Yang for something.

Weiss raised her voice as she grew more agitated and Ruby could make out the girl announce "You knew what the plan was! And yet you still manage to be late! How could you possibly think going to class right now is-" Weiss's words were silences and Roxas hushed the two with a finger to his lips. The conversation died down to a whisper spanning a few more words that Ruby couldn't make out before the trio turned to look at the tall stranger who had been crossing his arms throughout the debacle.

The man turned his back to them before raising a single hand. Wisps of black smoke began rising from the grass before an eruption of dark purple and black sprouted from the ground. Ruby recognized the formation in an instant.

 _...that's a Dark Corridor..._

The trio shot each other solemn looks before one at a time they each stepped into the darkness, disappearing completely. The tall stranger entered last and Ruby found her feet moving on their own, propelling her towards the darkness.

 _Wait what am I doing? Why am I going towards it?_

Before she knew it she was standing in front of the Dark Corridor as it began to waver out of existence. She hesitated staring into the void of blackness as she tried to make her decision, knowing it would have to come soon.

She knew she had plenty of reasons for entering that portal. She should make sure her sister was okay, she wanted to know what they were all up to, and who the stranger was, she wanted to confront them about why they had chosen to so secretive about this, but her nerves made her hesitate. Something about not knowing about what was on the other side was unsettling for her. She took a deep breath trying to calm the butterflies in her stomach before she found her foot entering the darkness. It was a strange feeling, the black flames surrounding her foot but not burning her. She closed her eyes before letting the flames enveloped the rest of her as she moved forward.

* * *

 _ **AN:**_ _Not too much to say about this chapter. Wrapped it up tonight and realized that I could post it right away. I'm so used to the review corner that it's strange not to be writing it now. This chapter was mostly just a set up chapter and an introduction chapter for things to come. I made it a little bit longer than the standard chapter, as demyx's introduction into Cinder's plans was harder than I thought it would be, especially when trying to express each character's motivations properly. I also had to go back and re-read a chapter because I couldn't recall if Roman would have actually known Roxas's name (which he actually didn't! Surprisingly… which made me rewrite the scene a few times lol). I realize that there's actually a lot of backlog to this story now, and I'm kinda surprised. I hadn't realized it had grown this much! Anyway! I suspect that next chapter will most likely be a little longer than usual with all the things in the works, but hopefully not as long as chapter 14 or 20 (it's a strain sometimes lol). It feels weird ending the AN here._

 _Of course I will make sure to respond to all Reviews via PM and urge those of you who do not have accounts to get them so that I may respond to your voice. There have been so many reviews that I've wanted to respond to because they brought up a great point but couldn't, so please create an account if you don't have one already so I may talk to you!_

 _Until next time!_


	24. Chapter 24: Into The Twilight

Roxas stepped out into the orange glow of a setting sun, his boots clicking against the smooth brickwork pavement as he stepped out into a distinct clearing. His eyes lit up, scanning the old style brick buildings around him, his eyes recognizing the low tone colors tinted orange by the sun, giving the town it's signature calmness.

"This... We're in Twilight Town." he whispered to himself as he found his lips curl into a smile. Turning to the stranger "This is where DiZ is?"

The man nodded "We have a base of Operations a little ways from here. A Short walk."

Roxas nodded just as a bright flash of shining light blinded him. He could hear both Yang and Weiss audibly startle as he was forced to shut his eyes from the flash. The boy felt panic swell up in his chest, assuming they were being attacked as he summoned the Oblivion and Oathkeeper to his hands. As he slowly blinked open his eyes, watching the others do the same, he found nothing.

Well, nothing, accept for Ruby laying in her school attire crumpled on the ground with her eyes closed.

"Ruby!" Yang called out with panic in her voice. The girl knelt at her sisters side, raising Ruby's face to her own as she called out to her "Ruby! Ruby are you okay?!"

Roxas's eyes grew as large as they could. Had she just come through the Darkness behind them _without_ an Organization coat to protect her? He had disclosed to both Weiss and Yang very clearly as to _why_ the coats were necessary, and they both knew that the consequences were dire if they didn't follow this rule.

"No..." Weiss whispered under her breath covering her mouth in concern. Roxas found himself kneeling beside Yang with a mouth half gaped open in shock.

"B-but how? Where did she...? What happened?" he heard himself mumbling as he tried to figure out how this had happened.

Yang suddenly turned to him and demanded "What do we do now? How can we help her!?" her eyes bore the same look of worry Roxas had seen her wear when she had been fighting Axel alone.

"I-I don't..." Roxas didn't have an answer, he didn't know what to do if when someone exposed themselves to the darkness of the Corridor. It had never happened before, the threat of being exposed had always been enough for the members of the Organization to be careful. Shoot he didn't even know what would happened in the event that someone was exposed, what was he supposed to do?

"...light..." he slowly whispered to himself, an idea forming in the back of his mind. If the _Darkness_ had been exposed to Ruby, would that mean that _light_ could be the answer they needed?

"Stand back Yang." he said sternly as he searched deep within himself for that flame he had become familiar with inside himself. He took grasp of it as he could feel his skin begin to radiate the white light in waves of new power. He raised his Oathkeeper, pushing the energy into the blade as he prepared to erupt a shining pillar of light onto Ruby's still form. He knew that his power was typically used offensively, and this would most likely hurt Ruby, but he justified it by telling himself this small amount of pain would be nothing in comparison to if he let the Darkness fester within her.

Yang drew back from her sister, watching concerned as he prepared the attack. Just as he meant to bring the Keyblade down Ruby's mouth opened, allowing a short groan to escape.

Roxas paused as the girl slowly pushed herself off the ground, holding the side of her head "Jeez what was that?" she mumbled under her breath. Her eyes opened and Roxas saw that the irises of her eyes were gone, leaving two seas of pure white in their place.

 _No... They aren't gone... her eyes... they're... shining?_

Roxas didn't have time to further study the phenomenon as Ruby blinked once, returning her irises to their normal gray color.

Her eyes met Roxas's and a look of fear spread across her face as she raced a hand "Whoa Whoa! Roxas calm down! What are you doing?"

The Boy's aura immediately faded away as he lowered his arms staring at the girl with a perplexed expression.

"You're...okay?" Yang asked uncertain, approaching her sister again.

"Yeah I'm okay!" Ruby complained looking annoyed between the four of them. She tried to get to her feet but stumbled as she did, landing on her butt.

"Just..." she said groggy "Kinda tired for some reason... whatever that was... took it out of me."

Yang smiled as she knelt down next to her sister and carefully helped her up. After a short inspection, she hugged Ruby, pulling her close as she said "You seriously need to stop worrying your big sister you know. I don't know how many more scares I can handle."

Ruby giggled as she hugged Yang back "Sorry, I'll try not to..." Ruby's smile slowly shifted into a frown "Hey wait a minute!" she shouted pulling herself out of the hug and pointing an accusatory finger at Yang "You worried me first! What's all this about?" she said grabbing her Organization Coat and then motioning to the rest of them.

"Why'd you all sneak off all, all-" she flustered as she tried to think of an adjective "Secretively!" she shouted waving her finger towards her friends who back away with their hands up submissively.

As she accused them Roxas couldn't help but stare at her perplexed as to why the darkness hadn't affected her how he'd been told it would have.

 _Did it have something to do with that light I saw?_

He quickly dismissed the thought, believing that he must have seen the white of her eyes or her pupils had been reduced to a point that he hadn't been able to spot them with a short glance. It would make no sense for her eyes to just suddenly start _glowing_ for no reason.

 _She… she must of just gotten lucky._

He thought as he realized that traveling through the darkness without the coat didn't meant that it was a sure sentence that you would be consumed by the darkness, it merely meant you would be exposed to the darkness without the protection of the coat. The boy nodded as he made sense of this.

 _She must have just gotten really, really lucky._

He tried to push the thought away, trying to appreciate that Ruby was well and okay, but something still didn't feel right about it.

After a few more moments of pointing fingers Ruby's eyes widened, looking past her friends and seemingly just noticing the town around them.

"Whoa..." she said stepping past them, looking up at the older style architecture and sunset colors "Where in Remnant are we?"

Both Weiss and Yang turned to look at Roxas with an expression that read 'we aren't in Remnant, are we?'.

The boy shook his head. They turned to each other frowning before turning back towards Roxas. It took him a moment but he realized quickly what _that_ look was supposed to be saying 'Are you going to be the one to tell her?'.

He sighed as he nodded, seemingly taking a weight off their chest as they both sighed in relief. He stepped up beside the raven haired girl and placed hand on her shoulder "We... aren't in Remnant." he said reluctantly.

"Huh?" she turned to him with a confused look "What do you mean?"

"We're... uh..." he paused trying to find the right way to explain things "Do... you remember how you found out I was kinda an alien?"

Her face scrunched up as she listened, obviously confused. Roxas opened his mouth to explain further but as he did her expression lit up, her eyes widening and her mouth gaping as realization hit her like a tidal wave.

"No way!" she shouted, whipping her head back towards their surroundings, examining them even closer now. Her look of shock quickly transitioned into excitement as she cheered "We're on another **world**?!"

Roxas felt his lips curl into a smile "Yeah, this is Twilight Town."

"Huh," she said her excitement fading slightly "Thought it would be... I dunno," she placed a hand against a brick wall, staring up at the orange sky "More _alien_ I guess."

"Well it's not actually like that, you see-"

The boy was quickly interrupted as she excited exclaimed "Wait are the _people_ all weird? Are they like, green with antennas or something?!"

As she shouted this a blonde haired boy with a gray vest and camo shorts ran past them, laughing as he did so. Two others followed quickly after him, a brown haired girl in orange and a slightly overweight boy in a red shirt, complaining about not being given a fair start.

"Huh," she said watching as the trio turned a corner out of view, her interest had definitely deflated "I guess not."

"Yeah... sorry, that's not really how it works." Roxas said still finding a smile planted on his face. Something about being in Twilight Town again ust forced a smile onto his face. His eyes widened as he was hit with a memory. He whipped his head away in the direction of something the others could not see.

"Everything okay?" Yang asked, noticing his sharp movement.

"Yeah it is!" The boy said sounding more excited than she could recall him ever being.

"C'mon!" he said, suddenly dashing in the direction of a street that seemed to wind upward "I've got somewhere to show you guys!"

Yang and Weiss each turned to cast confused looks between one and other before Ruby dashed after the boy, sharing the same enthusiasm as he did.

Yang and Weiss quickly fell in step behind her as Weiss asked "Wait, do you actually know where we're going?" she found that she disliked the idea of Roxas showing an entirely new world to someone else.

 _Stop it._ she told herself, _you're being ridiculous, besides, she didn't recognize this place when we initially step foot out._

Just as she had concluded, Ruby announce back "No! But I definitely want to see what's got Roxas so excited!"

Yang heard heavy footsteps behind her and heard the stranger growl "We don't have time for these games. We have to go see DiZ!" a moment later Yang heard the sound of a Corridor erupting behind her before a similar one appeared several yards in front of Roxas. The tall stranger stepped out, forcing the boy to come to a less than elegant stop as he stumbled.

"We don't have time to go sight seeing!" The stranger scolded, sounding annoyed "And shouldn't she-" he said shoving a finger in Ruby's direction "Be sent back to her world already? She wasn't supposed to come!"

After regaining his footing, Roxas's happy smile transitioned into a deep frown "This will only take a moment." he said in a threatening tone "And we don't have a coat to spare to send her back in, we got lucky with her going through once, I don't want to have to expose her twice."

Ruby frowned appearing concerned "Did I just do something really dangerous?" she quietly asked her sister. Yang raised her eyebrows and nodded slowly.

"Fine, I don't care." the man said "We have a specific destination to go to. That was the **deal**."

Roxas growled before clenching his fists "And I'm still planning to honor that deal, it's just that, there is a very special place I wanted to show to my friends. You can **wait**." he said placing special emphasis on the final word.

"Can't we do both? I'm sure it wouldn't take long..." Ruby said stepping up beside Roxas. She appeared as disappointed as Roxas did.

"I said **NO!** " The stranger suddenly shouted losing his patience "We had a deal and I've been patient enough! I patiently waited the couple days you wanted to rest in that 'Remnant' world of yours so that you could help this girl!" he made a gesture towards Ruby "I waited on Yang even though she was late and doesn't even need to be here." Yang scowled at the man as he said this "And on top of that I've been waiting for literal _months_ now trying to find you to get _my_ friend back. I'm done waiting! I say no." he crossed his arms as he finished his statement. Although his hood masked his features, Roxas could _feel_ the glare piercing through him.

The group grew quiet as they stood there agitated. Finally, Weiss stepped forward and whispered something into Roxas's ear. The boy smiled as he nodded.

"You're right," he said "It's too bad that we _don't care_ what you say." suddenly, a Dark Corridor erupted just behind the boy. The moment it appeared Ruby, Yang and Weiss each rushed into the darkness.

As Roxas stepped back into the darkness he said "We'll be back later."

The stranger leapt forward as he tried to enter the portal as well but just as his fingers grazed the darkness the black flames extinguished themselves.

Riku fell to the brick street on hands and knees. His hands clenched into fists as he cursed under his breath and stood again. Pushing back his frustration, he started running, scanning the streets with a deep glare. If he wanted to get this done, he'd have to find them quickly.

* * *

"This is beautiful!" Ruby said as she sat on the edge of the clock tower gazing out towards the seemingly enormous setting sun. She appeared calmer now as she had been told that going through a Corridor is not very dangerous when it's from places within the same world, world to world however as she had done was what the threat had been.

"It's like you can see everything from here..." Weiss observed, trying to sound reserved but failing due to the look of wonder washing over her features. The entire town was visible from below, the playing kids they had seen before, the older town center where they had arrived, all cast in the orange glow of the setting sun.

"Yeah, this used to be my favorite spot to relax." He said as he sat down next to Ruby, Weiss sat on his left as Yang dangled her feet off of the edge next to Ruby.

"Incredible." The blonde girl said with a grin "This is awesome."

"You never worried about... falling off, did you?" Weiss said as she peering over the edge with a frown. They had to be over one hundred feet off the ground. Her legs were tucked underneath her as she sat staring over the edge.

"Never crossed our minds..." Roxas trailed off, a smile resting on his face. This smile soon became a frown as he furrowed his brow.

 _Something's missing..._

"Oh!" he suddenly exclaimed lighting up again. He rose to his feet quickly and both Ruby and Weiss flinched from the sudden movement from somewhere so high up.

"I'll be right back!" he announced before stepping into a Corridor of Darkness and disappearing.

The three remaining girls shot each other looks of confusion before Ruby shrugged and smiled "I've never seen him so excited!" she said.

Weiss smiled in return "It is quite nice to see him so cheerful."

"I kinda want to jump off of here..." Yang mumbled with a devious grin.

"Yang don't do that." Ruby scolded rolling her eyes.

"What? I'll be fine I've got my girls!" she said raising her shot gauntlets with a grin.

"I don't think we want to draw attention to ourselves in this new world, and I bet that seeing a girl rocketing through the sky would probably raise some eyebrows from down below." Ruby responded sounding like an older sister.

"What people? I don't see anybody down there." Yang said peering over the edge. As Weiss and Ruby looked, they found that she was right. There wasn't a soul in sight.

"I've barely seen _anybody_ in this place besides those two kids, it's been practically empty." Yang crossed her arms looking annoyed.

"Yeah that is kinda weird..." Ruby observed chewing on the side of her cheek "You'd think with how many buildings there are we'd see more people out and about..."

The trio grew quiet at this observation, allowing the natural silence of the town to overtake them.

"Soooo..." Yang said breaking the silence as her grin returned "Can I do it? Cool if I jump off and have some fun?"

Ruby opened her mouth to answer but found Weiss speaking first "You may be correct about the _current_ amount of people out and about, but I'm certain that this quiet little town wouldn't respond well to shotgun blasts sounding out from the highest point of the city." Weiss said very informatively.

Ruby raised an eyebrow and laughed "Good point! I didn't even think of that!"

Yang sighed in annoyance before laying back, resting the back of her head against her hands as she did.

Ruby released a sigh of contentment as Weiss did the same. Several seconds of serene silence passed as the trio absorbed the pleasant rays of the seemingly never ending setting sun.

"You know this place explains a lot about Roxas."

"It makes sense now why Roxas seems to enjoy the roof of Beacon so much."

Both Ruby and Weiss whipped their heads towards one and other with looks of surprise as they're comments layered over each other.

"What did you say?" They each spoke in unison.

The two froze as they each came to the same conclusion. With peeling eyes Weiss studied the raven haired girl in front of her.

"You sit up there with him too?" Weiss was the first to speak. Yang appeared to be staring over Ruby's shoulder, watching the two scowling girls with a 'Wait, what just happened?' expression.

"Yeah." Ruby said with a frown "We like to talk to each other up there."

Yang could distinctly hear the tone of annoyance as Weiss responded "He likes to talk to me up there as well. He tells me secrets." she said realizing that she sounded slightly childish, but not caring.

Ruby's cheeks puffed in annoyance as she began her retort, her voice slowly raising to just below a shout "He tells me secrets too! He told me that he-"

Just then a burst of black and purple flames erupted from the ground just between the two girls, obscuring their views of one and other and sending them jumping back in surprise. Roxas stepped out with a wide smile and his arms filled with something blue.

"I brought-" he began excitedly before turning and noticing both Weiss's and Ruby's flustered expressions.

"Wait, is everything okay? Did something happen?" Roxas's cheery demeanor suddenly shifted to concern as his shoulders tensed.

Yang's bellowing laughter released the tension before she began "Nothing's wrong, at least not to _me._ They were just getting jealous over who sits next to-" faster than Roxas could track both Ruby and Weiss were on either side of the blonde covering her mouth with their hands.

Roxas blinked several times in confusion before raising an eyebrow towards their antics as Yang struggled to get free with no avail.

"What's going on?" he asked puzzled.

"Oh nothing!" Ruby called out, a visible sweat running down the side of her face as she tried to hold her older sister down.

"We're just! Um..." Weiss began clearly struggling to form words as Yang attempted to pry the girl's hands away from her mouth.

"Playing a game!" Ruby announced, finally succeeding in locking her arms around her sister's arms, halting her attempts to remove Weiss's hands from her face.

"Yes! We're trying to incapacitate Yang because uh, she's simple so much stronger than us you see!" Weiss confirmed with a forced looking smile.

"Oh..." He said clearly confused "Well... I uh, I got us ice cream." he mumbled clearly left uncomfortable by their 'game'.

"Oh?" Ruby said losing focus as she lifted her head to peer over at Roxas's currently occupied hands. Yang finally pulled her arms free as a result and was able to push Weiss off of her with ease.

"Hey!" the Schnee complained as she was tossed to the side.

Yang reached out an expectant hand, seemingly having forgotten about her previous comment as she said excitedly "I'll take one."

Roxas's smile returned as he handed out the ice creams, each girl receiving a wide ocean blue popsicle to enjoy.

"What... is this?" Weiss commented after taking a bite out of the frozen treat. She rolled the flavor around in her mouth as her eyes expressed surprise.

"It's the best isn't it?" Roxas said with his smile widening. He quickly followed suit as he took an eager bite into the popsicle.

"How... how is it so sweet, and yet also salty?" Ruby said with a growing smile as she took another bite.

Roxas only shrugged with a mouth full of ice cream. The clock tower was silent of all noise except the subtle sound of crunching as the four students each eagerly downed their sweets.

"What was that?" Yang said as she finished the last bite of the tasty ice shavings.

"That," Roxas paused to swallow the last of his Popsicle "Was some Sea Salt ice cream." he wiped his lips with a sleeve before eying his remaining popsicle stick.

"Sea salt huh?" Weiss repeated looking content as she too finished her ice cream.

"I really liked that flavor! I wonder why I've never tried it before." Ruby said looking slightly disappointed that she had finished her own.

Yang laughed "That's true, you are sorta a 'treats connoisseur' aren't you? I can't remember all the times I've caught you with a cookie in your mouth..." Yang trailed off, staring out towards the sunset with a calm smile.

"I haven't really found it anywhere else." Roxas spoke "As far as I know, this place, Twilight Town, is the only place to get some..." he too trailed off, losing himself to the sunset as he did his best to push the rest of the world to the back of his mind.

He could hear the others talking about something, Weiss was trying to form a plan to take some home with her so that she could have 'her people' try and see if they could reproduce the product. Ruby promptly volunteered to taste test each of the batches to 'assure quality' as she put it. Yang promptly teased the girl telling her that she would probably become rounder than any ice cream scoop if she tried to go ahead with that plan. Weiss and Yang laughed that this, leading Ruby to cross her arms with an annoyed frown.

 _This is just like the old times..._ Roxas thought to himself as his mind trailed back to before, to the last time he'd been here, like this, with his friends.

 _Just sitting here, enjoying the sunset, enjoying some ice cream, enjoying being with each other..._

He paused, a soft grin forming on his lips as he continued the thought.

 _And getting teased the entire time by Axel!_

"Got it memorized?" he quietly whispered to himself.

"Huh? Didja say something?" Ruby asked turning to the boy.

Roxas shook his head turning to meet her eyes, but when he did, he found a concerned expression solidifying itself on her features.

"Are you okay?" she asked with worry laced in her words.

"Huh?" He responded not understanding her question, why wouldn't he be okay right now? This was the happiest he'd been in weeks. Suddenly the others were staring at him now, each replicating the look Ruby was giving him.

"What? What's wrong?" he asked still not understanding.

"Roxas... you're crying..." Weiss said.

"I... huh?" he raised a hand to his cheek, his fingers withdrawing wet from the touch.

"Oh," he mumbled, quickly wiping his face with a sleeve "I don't know why I, I would be." suddenly Roxas could feel them coming down harder. He struggled to stop the tears as they continued to roll down his cheeks.

"Roxas!? Are you okay?" Ruby said concerned as she moved closer, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Did we do something?" Weiss responded "I won't try and reproduce your ice cream if that's the cause!" she said barely managing to stammer out her words.

"No, no, no," He said stifling a laugh "I just... I guess I..." he sighed turning his attention back towards the sunset "I guess... I still miss them..."

* * *

They found the stranger looking about just outside of an entrance that lead downward into a tunnel.

"You!" he said pointing an accusatory finger in Roxas's direction as the group calmly approached "How dare you!"

"Sorry," Roxas responded calmly, "here," he said pulling out a wrapping popsicle from his coat pocket "A peace offering, it should still be cold." he reached out and dropped the treat into the man's hand who closed his fingers around it slowly. He stared down at the frozen treat with confusion before looking back to the boy.

"It's really good!" Ruby announced smiling.

"It is." Roxas confirmed smiling, but then his smile dropped "But, ice cream isn't the reason we came here. So, lead the way stranger."

"Hey that's right huh?!" Yang said with a frown "We _still_ don't know what to your name is. C'mon now spill it!" she said with crossed arms.

The stranger seemed to pause for a moment, looking down at the popsicle still awkwardly in his hand before looking back up at the girl.

"My name is... Ansem." he finally admitted.

Yang smiled at that, appearing satisfied as she said "Cool name."

'Ansem' only nodded before turning his back to them "This way." he said stepping forward into the tunnel. The group followed after him but paused as he came to a halt.

"Oh." he said awkwardly "And thanks for the ice cream." he said taking a small crunchy bite.

* * *

The group was lead down out of the town into a large tree line with oak trees so large they themselves were taller than most buildings in the town itself.

Ruby marveled at the sight of the trees "Where... exactly are we going?" she said with wonder.

"We're almost there." Ansem responded coldly, walking with purpose as he passed a tree.

"Are we..." Roxas questioned as his eyes darting left and right as he recognized their direction "Going to the abandoned mansion?"

"Oooohhh! Are we going to see a mansion?" Ruby asked excitedly.

The man said nothing, his only indication that they were right being his continued step towards a clearing from the trees.

Yang chuckled, looking over at Weiss "I'm sure this'll be nothing new for you eh? I'm sure the Schnee family can afford a huge mansion can't they?"

Weiss only rolled her eyes at the comment, choosing to studying the few rays of light that managed to cut through the layers of branches and brush above them.

"Oh that's right huh!" Ruby smiled "Then you'll be able to tell us if _this_ mansion is like, a, a _high class_ mansion or like, a run of the mill mansion."

Weiss dropped her gaze from the sky and shot a glare towards the girl, expecting to find a sneer of sarcasm from the Rose. Upon noticing her sincere look Weiss flushed, her harsh gaze softening.

"I- I guess I could." She stammered frowning as she looked away.

"We're here." The man said as he paused just outside of the treeline where sunlight found it's way unobstructed from the ground.

Ruby, Weiss and Yang each stepped out into the light with wide eyes, taking in the sight. Before them was a tall intricately designed metal gate opening past a stone wall into a grass courtyard walled by square shaped bushes clearly maintained despite the unlively look of the mansion just past the walkway. The structure was made of brick with tones of docile browns and tans. Several of the towers peaked with long spherical cones jutting out towards the sky. At its tallest point was a center tower ending with a triangle at it's top with cupped a glass painting spherical in design.

"Whoa..." Ruby uttered as they stepped into the courtyard looking up at the massive structure.

"So." Yang said, clearly equally taken in by the sight " What do you think Weiss?"

The girl smiled in response "Well, it certainly looks nice."

The group stepped past the large double doors into a spacious main hall with wood floors and little else.

They paused as they took in the poorly lit area "kinda... empty isn't it?" Ruby said with a frown.

"We don't look after it very well." Ansem said dismissively as he approached a staircase on the left that curled as it went up, mirrored by a staircase on the right that did the same meeting at the top. The group ascended the staircase quietly, clearly uncomfortable as their footsteps clicked against the wood.

They walked along the upper level hallway which wrapped around the lower level separated only by a wooden rail that came to the waste. They passed multiple doors before Ansem stopped deliberately before a large wood door that appeared identical to the rest. Ruby looked across the hall and noticed a single door slightly cracked open. Her eyes peeled as she tried to see what was inside and realized that a pair of blue eyes were staring back at her. She caught a glimpse of blonde hair before the door quickly shut. Ruby turned to Roxas who had also been looking in the same direction. He shrugged as he met her eye.

"We're paying the library a visit?" Weiss asked having read the label imprinted in metal at the side of the door.

"Not exactly." The man said as he opened the door revealing the contents within. The group stepped in with furrowed eyebrows as they stared with confusion.

"Well... this sure doesn't look like the library at Beacon..." Roxas observed as he stared towards where the floor should be. In its place was an large cavity with a descending staircase that contrasted the wooden look of the mansion with metallic blues and grays filling the descending room. The group cautiously stepped down the staircase noting the fact that this room appeared to have been developed after the mansion had been made. The walls and floor shared the same bluish gray metallic look that the staircase had with very little else marking the room. Turning, the group found a dark hallway before them of which Ansem stepped towards without hesitation.

"Ominous." Yang observed, clearly trying to sound humorous with a grin, but her eyes revealed worry.

"It's okay." Roxas said placing a hand on her arm. He smiled a reassuring smile and she did the same looking back at him.

"Thanks." She uttered before continuing to follow.

They entered a smaller dimly lit room where several oddly shaped monitors littered the left and far side of the room where a structure vaguely resembling a desk sat.

Ruby's eyes fell on a single screen which seemed to be showing a vague image of a person.

"Huh," She muttered raising an eyebrow.

" I thought he would be here." Ansem said looking about the small room. He sighed before continuing turning down yet another dark hallway.

They entered a larger room with neon green lights running along the floor partially illuminating the otherwise empty room. Empty, except or the lone figure standing with his back turned to the group as they entered.

"DiZ." Ansem spoke calmly "I've brought him."

The figure was tall, seemingly the same height as Ansem as he turned around to face the group. All except Ansem bore looks of bewilderment as they studied his features. The man wore a dark intricately designed black robe that touched the floor revealing not an inch of skin. Resting on his shoulders was a deep rest crimson cloak that reached to his ankles as it bellowed behind his stiff form. This however was not the reason the group found themselves perplexed as they studied his face with furrowed brows. His face had been wrapped completely with what appeared to be crimson bandages with the only visible slits being for his single amber eye and mouth. His other eyes had been covered by two black buckled belts also wrapped around his head.

"Hello Roxas... and guests."

"So... you're DiZ huh?" The boy responded.

"I am." he responded coldly.

"... So... do you know why we're here?"

His frown was resolute as he stared down at the boy "I assumed you've come to awaken Sora."

Roxas frowned, sensing the tension in the room, Ansem stepped past their group and positioned himself beside the man with his arms crossed.

"He wants to see if there is a way for Sora to awake without… well... losing his existence."

At first Roxas thought the man hadn't heard Ansem's claim, then it sounded like this 'DiZ' individual was coughing before the sound grew louder. The man reared his head back as a deep chuckle bellowed out from him.

"Is _that_ why this Nobody came here so willingly, because he believes that he can continue being a Nobody once Sora collects from him what is his." His laughter quickly transitioned back into a scowl "Impossible. Besides, regardless of if it were possible to separate the part of you that would restore Sora, and the Nobody you know yourself as," his frown deepened in distaste as he stared at the boy "I don't there would be a point to what a pathetic existence that would be."

"Hey! Watch it!" Yang said stepping forward with clenched fists.

"Yang calm yourself!" Weiss said pulling her back.

"Why should I? This jerk just told us that it's _impossible_ to bring this _Sora_ guy back without us losing Roxas! Plus didn't you hear him? He just insulted our friend!"

"Quite a temper on that one hmm?" Diz observed his amber eye peering over at Yang's snarling form. He looked back to Roxas before continuing "You see that boy? That's what it looks like to have _real_ emotions, to be an _actual_ person; not some empty replica."

Roxas remained quiet, choosing to merely studying the man with a calm demeanor.

"You're wrong about Roxas!" Ruby called out with defiance as she stepped forward.

"Oh?" he grinned at her efforts "And how exactly would you know? You don't appear to be Organization XIII despite your friend's current outfits." he said observing Yang's, Weiss's and Roxas's coats "So tell me girl, just what is it that you think Roxas is?"

"Roxas..." she turned back towards him, meeting his eye as she did so "Roxas is my friend. He's been there for me, and I'd like to think I've been there for him. We care about him, and I know he cares about us too-"

" **Wrong.** " The man interrupted with a grave tone.

"...huh?" She said drawing her attention away from Roxas to stare at the man.

"Roxas, is a Nobody, a shell of the person he once was. He certainly knows how it was to _be_ a person, and thus like all of _his_ kind he can replicate it. Some can replicate these former emotions quite well and I can certainly tell by your conviction that he's been quiet adept at this art of _deception._ "

Ruby's face scrunched up as a determined look washed over her features "You're wrong! You don't know anything about Roxas! He's different! He's-"

"How **DARE** you!" DiZ interrupted yet again. "I've researched, studied, and explored the nature of Nobodies to their very core, to what they are fundamentally for _years_ now and yet somehow, someway you think you've figured it out by interacting with this sole Nobody? You think you can tell _**me**_ that _**I'm**_ wrong?" His expression while masked by the red bandages appear livid underneath "You know **NOTHING** girl. You're a fool who follows your heart forcing your expectations onto others that they would be the same. You're a fool because you only see what you _want_ to see despite reality! You're a fool because you've been deceived all this time by this being that doesn't even deserve to exist!"

"Don't talk to my sister that way!" Yang roared as she finally pried Weiss's hands off of her and darted towards the man. She threw an air splitting haymaker at the man's face, moving so quickly that DiZ couldn't even move an inch in response. However, just as her golden gauntlet came a mere inch from his nose a gloved hand shot up in front of it, catching her fist and halting her momentum completely with a loud _CLAP_.

Yang's gaze followed the arm attached and found Ansem staring down at her, face masked and unreadable by the darkness of the hood as he threw her back. The girl stumbled a few feet before regaining her footing and throwing her hands up in a ready stance.

"Alright buddy, you wanna go? Let's-"

" **Stop.** " Roxas's stern voice filled the room, instantly drawing all eyes.

Yang turned and looked at him "What? We already know this plan isn't going to work, shouldn't we get the first swing?" she said trying to sound reasonable.

Roxas merely shook his head "No. I don't want this to turn to violence." his words were calm and collected, as if he'd been preparing for this moment for a long time.

"What? But... if, if there's no way that we can restore Sora without sacrificing you... then what is there?" Weiss asked confused as she stared at Roxas's expressionless face.

Roxas sighed, looking down from their gazes for a moment before a seriousness took his words "I'd like to speak to DiZ **alone** if that's alright."

The entire group grew silent.

"Wait, why? What's there that you can't say in front of all of us huh?" Yang said with a growing attitude while simultaneously crossing her arms.

" **Please!** " He said shutting his eyes in frustration. "I... I just need you all to trust me. Please just, let us talk for a few minutes alone." He looked up and stared into DiZ's amber eye "I have some things I need to ask."

Ansem turned and looked towards DiZ in a gesture that asked _what do you think?_

DiZ only sighed before looking away bored "I suppose it couldn't hurt if only to be rid of these over emotional _children_ for the time being." His eye met Roxas's and hardened "Although I sincerely can't see the value of talking to you alone considering nothing you say will be of significance. I will not be swayed by your _deception_ Nobody. Does knowing this damper your resolve to speak to me alone?"

A faint smile could be seen forming from Roxas's lips "Not at all." he said looking to the others expectantly.

"You lot may entire the next room, it's a quiet hallway, but do **not** enter the room after. Wait patiently until our conversation is done. I will call for you after." DiZ spoke with an authority to his voice that made Yang sneer in retaliation. Despite the lack of motivation to listen the group slowly moved their way past the man through a large steel door into the hallway mentioned. Roxas caught the look of Weiss as she stared back at him with concern before closing the door shut behind her.

"Now what is it that you wanted to discuss?" DiZ asked in a fashion that suggested he was beneath all of this.

"I said I wanted to talk _alone._ " Roxas responded looking towards Ansem expectantly.

"You know that isn't going to happen kid." The man grumbled as he crossed his arms still standing beside DiZ defiantly.

"Hmmm..." the masked man grumbled staring at Roxas's stern expression "Ansem, I'd like to get this talk over and done with sooner rather than later. Please wait outside with the rest."

"What?" Ansem exclaimed appearing disheveled by the decision "But, what- what if he attacks you?"

A bright flash of light lit the room for a moment and Ansem spun around getting in a ready stance as Roxas summoned his Keyblades to each hand. A moment later the Soul Eater was in Ansems hand ready to respond.

Roxas grinned at the paranoid man before shaking his head "No,no, here, take them." he said offering the hilt of each blade towards Ansem.

"...What?" the cloaked man responded hesitantly.

"If you take them then you know I can't be attacking DiZ."

Ansem momentarily relaxed before retorting "You could just summon them back to you once I left the room."

Roxas rolled his eyes "Well then you'd know that something was up and could charge back in here at a moment's notice." Roxas looked into the hood where he assumed the man's eyes were "C'mon, you can trust me. I promise I won't do anything to harm DiZ, okay?"

Ansem appeared conflicted as he stared down at the floor trying to come to a decision just as a hand rested itself on his shoulder.

"Ansem." DiZ spoke calmly "It will be fine. Now please, take the Nobody's weapons and leave the room. Stand at the door if you must, but stop delaying this any more then it need be."

Ansem grumbled before reaching out and seizing The Oathkeeper and Oblivion with each hand and stomping out of the door where the rest of the girls were.

"Now then." DiZ spoke in a condescending tone as the heavy metal door clanged shut "What is it that you wanted to speak to me about?"

* * *

The room just outside was exactly as DiZ had said, a small hallway that cut to the right at a turn. Ruby approached the turn curiously as Yang and Weiss stood by the door with arms crossed, each clearly concerned about the conversation going on in the other room. Ansem had chosen to take post at the end of the hallway, blocking the door into the next room and whatever it may contain. That wasn't what was drawing the girl's interest however as Ruby continued to approach the series of large egg shaped structures lining the wall.

"What... are these?" She quietly asked herself as she studied one at the end. They were each larger than herself in size, looming over her as she stared up at them. After several moments of study the girl determined that the eggs were hollow inside, translucent enough at the top for her to vaguely see the wall behind it.

"Huh..." he murmured as she continued down the hallway studying each egg trying to spot something within. She wanted to climb up and peer down inside of one but concluded that Ansem would likely scold her for doing so.

"Why would he want us to _leave_ of all things? Doesn't he trust us?" Yang said sounding offended.

Weiss answered with an optimistic tone, but clearly that optimism was waning as she sounded uncertain "I'm sure he has a good reason. He knows he can trust us... I think..." she said trailing off.

"Yeah, right. And that's why he asked us to leave the room." Yang said still sour.

"I wouldn't be so mad at Roxas right now." Weiss said with growing agitation "That's DiZ fellow is a real piece of work talking down to Roxas like that."

Yang nodded in agreement "I can't believe he would treat another life like that."

Weiss fornwed "He's so misguided despite apparently being knowledgeable in the matter. I can't _stand_ people like that."

"Is that a duck?" Ruby's voice split the air.

"...What?" Both Yang and Weiss turned their heads towards her as she stared at one of the eggs towards the middle of the group.

"Yeah, yeah it is! And That's a Dog!" she said clearly proud of her discovery. She turned to look towards Ansem with a smile "Why do you have a duck and a dog in these containers? And like..." she pushed a hand against the hard shell of the egg shaped container "What _are_ these?"

The man merely grumbled, looking away as he said "That's none of your business."

"Hmph." Ruby responded with a frown, hands on her hips "Fine then, I'll come to my own conclusions then." she turned back to the egg and peeled her eyes staring hard.

"What are you talking about?" Yang said as she and Weiss stepped up beside the girl, clearly interested as well.

"Look!" Ruby said pointing a finger towards the top of one of the eggs "It's a duck!

"Huh..." Yang said staring at where she was pointing, "So it is... but I don't think it's just a duck."

"What? Why not?" Ruby said disappointed that her sister was contradicting her.

"Well, for one it looks like it has shoulders like a person does and a torso." she said with a frown.

"It does?" Ruby said standing on the tip of her toes trying to get a better view. The girl sighed before scowling at her sister "No fair, you're taller than me."

"Yeah, yeah..." Yang said ignoring her little sister's annoyance as she looked at the adjacent container "It looks like the Dog is the same, he has a human body."

"Ohhhh!" Ruby said her face lighting up with realization "Maybe their Faunus!"

"That's what I was thinking too." Yang responded with a grin.

At this mention Ansem's head lifted to look towards the girls "Wait... what's a Faunus? You girls have people like Donald and Goofy in your world?"

"Donald and Goofy?" Ruby repeated before smiling "Oh my god is that their names? That's so cute!"

The man merely sighed visibly deflating as he clearly assumed that he wasn't going to receive the explanation he wanted. Noting this, Weiss stepped forward and cleared her throat.

"Faunus," She began, "Are creatures of are world that resemble people like us," she motioned to the group "But are differentiated based on animal like traits often giving them features that resemble that of the animal."

"Oh," He said his harsh tone diminishing in light of true interest "That's... kinda cool. So like, you get wolf Faunus and bear Faunus and stuff?"

Weiss's eyes narrowed in his direction, that sentence made him sound less like an adult and more like a _child_ of all things "Correct, but it's not as cool as you might think." she said in an almost distasteful tone.

"What do you mean?" He asked his masculine tone returning.

She could see that both Ruby and Yang were shooting her looks of confusion as well from her comment.

"Oh, don't make me say it." she said looking away embarrassed.

"Say... what?" Yang asked taking a step forward.

"Oh you know, don't pretend you don't."

"Weiss," Ruby's high pitched voice rang out"I don't think either of us are pretending when we say that we don't know what you're getting at."

Weiss sighed before saying "I'm talking about the higher crime rates in locations massively Faunus based, I'm talking about the frequent attacks and riots from the Faunus in the name of 'peace and equality'... what a contradiction that is..." The last part she said under her breath adopting a resentful glare as she did so. She looked up and met the gazes of both Ruby and Yang appearing stunned by her words.

"I'm talking about the White Fang!" She finally exclaimed appearing distressed.

"What is the 'White Fang?'" Ansem asked looking between Yang and Weiss uncomfortably.

Weiss gave Ruby and Yang harsh looks seemingly due to not agreeing with her "The White Fang is an organization almost exclusively composed of Faunus posing as activists towards Faunus rights," she paused scowling "When in reality they are all just a bunch of radical terrorist scum hiding behind the title to justify their criminal misconduct"

"I feel like... that's a little harsh..." Ruby mumbled rubbed her arm and looking away.

"I feel like I was being lenient!" Weiss defended eying the girl "I could go ahead and point out the fact that due to this organization the majority of Fanaus are no longer trustworthy for fear that they too are apart of this cult."

"That's not true." Yang said crossing her arms and frowning.

"Is it now?" Weiss recoiled, shifting her attention towards the blonde "Did you know that Roxas and I were responsible for the dismantlement and bust of one of the largest White Fang robberies in the history of Vale? Do you know what I saw?"

The two girls grew quiet, both clearly having seen the News on TV.

"I saw that their numbers are numerous, they had as many as they needed and then some for the robbery. They were well equipped, with no shortage of aircraft or tools to get the job done, and do you know what that tells me?"

"..."

"It tells me that the White Fang's reach spans larger than any of us even thought possible. I checked the police records after the event, wanting to see if our effort had made any dent in the number of Dust robberies and assaults occurring since. I thought the number would go down with how many _criminals_ we arrested that day, but I was wrong. If anything, the number went up, the frequency of the attacks have only _increased_ and not just in Beacon, but throughout the entirety of Remnant." she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose clearly having thought about this often "Would you like to know what **that** tells me?"

"...what does it tell you?" Ruby responded softly.

"It tells me." Weiss began calmly, a tired tone to her voice "That the White Fang has amassed an army right under the nose of Remnants governments, one capable and wanting to strike against the people with most likely a revolution given how often they're destructive nature comes out with these assaults." She paused looking away, clearly not wanting to see their faces as she said the next part "With how many Faunus they've recruited, with how many they must have in their ranks, it's hard to trust them anymore. I know that there MUST be good Faunus, those who actively refute the White Fangs actions, but I'm convinced now that number must be far lower than the numbers of the White Fang."

The room grew quiet as she finished her statement. It looked as if Ruby and Yang wanted to say something but at the same time couldn't find the words to say. Suddenly there was a knock on the door indicating that they could return. The group collectively piled in a line as they filled out of the room, Ruby and Weiss bringing back the rear.

Before they pass through the door frame, Ruby turned to face the girl before saying "You know, the entire time you were talking about Faunus, how they're criminals and more bad then good." she paused, looking down in an effort to avoid the girl's gaze "I couldn't help but think that you were sounding a whole lot like DiZ."

Weiss's jaw dropped as she took offense how "How dare you! I'm nothing like him. My views are justified! If you don't believe me that's only because you only see what you _want_ to see despite the reality of... the..." the girl paused with wide eyes as she realized how she sounded, what she had said word for word mirroring the man ahead of them peering over Roxas with a dismissive and almost disgusted look.

"I...no..." Weiss murmured looking down at the floor with a rush of realization.

Ruby stared at her with a look of pity before sighing and nodding "Yup." before continuing past the door being held by Ansem.

"I... that's not..." Weiss stood stunned in the door frame as Ansem grew impatient.

"C'mon now, in or out."

Weiss slowly shuffled through the door and stood still as it swung behind her, an ashamed look washing over her features. She remained quiet as Ruby came over to Roxas who appeared to have a content appearance to his features.

"Are you okay?" She asked "What happened?"

"I'm fine." He smiled "I just had a few questions I wanted answered, and also, I wanted to see if an idea I had would work. He thinks it will."

Weiss's shameful gaze caught a slight grin from DiZ's lips before his reserved frown returned to its position.

"Yes." He confirmed, "I can see the idea potentially working _if_ what you claim is true."

"What?" Yang responded turning her head back and forth between the two "What's the idea?".

"Well, I thought that maybe-"

Roxas was cut off by DiZ announcing "He believes that since he has truly grown his _own_ heart that if he were to be assimilated by Sora, that the part of him that is himself would remain despite Sora taking back his other half from him. And I will admit that I believe it could work." the man sounded convincing, but for some reason _something_ was off in his tone.

The Both Yang and Ruby shot each other looks of concern before turning back to Roxas "Would that... really work?"

The boy only shrugged "Maybe, but I have a feeling... that it will."

"So let's get on with it." DiZ commanded moving past the group and back towards the room where the monitors had been "We can observe the transition from within this room, Roxas, you are to move into the room past the hallway that your friends had entered. All you need to do is approach the center of the room where you will find Sora. I will do the rest." he said impatiently before leaving the room.

Roxas only nodded before turning back to his friends, clear concern was written on each of their faces.

"W-w-wait, we're doing this right now?!" Ruby asked with a panicked expression looking around for others to agree with her.

Yang appeared conflicted as she said "Yeah, shouldn't we discuss this some more? I mean... this feels like... too soon."

Roxas wore a reassuring smile as he said "There's nothing more to discuss, DiZ told me there is no other way, this is the only way to restore Sora."

"Well if we don't know that this is going to work should we maybe hold off on waking him up? We don't have to do this if we don't have to!" Weiss complained, seemingly coming out of whatever stupor she had been in.

Roxas's smile transitioned into a feint frown as he turned his head, looking to the door that would lead him to Sora with a longing gaze.

"I don't think I could do that to Sora." Roxas finally said "I asked DiZ about Sora, about who he was... and he was fighting this fight well before me. He told me that the only reason I even exist is because Sora was willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good." he sighed appearing conflicted before shaking his head, finding his resolve once again "I owe my life to Sora, I couldn't just leave him to slumber forever. I should give him back what is his."

"But!" Ruby said, distressed with tears forming at the corner of her eyes "But what if that means that we have to say goodbye forever to you!?"

Roxas hadn't seen it before, but they all had tears beginning to form at their eyes, Weiss had already started crying as Yang tried to hide it by turning away.

Roxas smiled as he too felt his eyes start to grow warmer. He raised his arms in open gesture and immediately understanding the group fell into a large hug, each holding Roxas tightly as they began to process what they were coming to accept would have to happen.

"You're... you're really going through with this... aren't you." Weiss said with her cheeks wet and her arms tightly gripping the boy to her.

"I am." he said resolute.

"You know you don't have to. It doesn't matter who Sora was or what he did, this is still your choice to make!" Ruby almost pleaded.

"I know." Roxas said with a faint smile before pulling away from the group hug.

Yang wiped her cheek smiling "You're a damn stubborn one you know. Nothing we can say will make you change your mind?" she asked grinning at the boy.

Roxas's vision was blurred as he too found that he had to wipe his cheeks "Nope. I've made up my mind."

She nodded trying to hold back another flood of tears before turning away.

"Then you better not make this a goodbye!" Weiss exclaimed pointing an accusatory finger at his chest "I'll never forgive you if your plan doesn't work! I better see you walk back out of that room with that Sora guy next to you!"

Roxas laughed and the others laughed too as they finally wiped away the last of their tears.

"I'll make sure to Weiss."

"Then promise us!" Ruby demanded "Promise that we'll see you again!"

Roxas frowned at this, before saying uncertainty finally revealing itself "I..."

"No! You're coming back to us! I don't care what you say!" Ruby said stubbornly.

Roxas sighed smiling "Fine. I promise. This won't be goodbye. I promise that I'm coming back after all is said and done." He looked between each of their faces, watching their collective looks of distraught and worry for him "Thank you, thank you all for everything that you've done for me. For being there for me. For being my **friends.** "

They all smiled, Ruby nodded before saying "No, thank _you_."

"Arrrgh!" Yang exclaimed sniffing her nose "I'm tired of these sad goodbyes! We're not even saying goodbye! I'm- I'm going to wait in the other room." She said storming off towards the door. Before she closed it behind her she turned and looked towards Roxas, casting him one last knowing smile before exiting the room.

"I guess... Yang is right." Weiss admitted releasing a nervous laughter. She stepped past Roxas and to the door where she turned and said with a smile "See you in a little bit Roxas, lets get some more of that ice cream once you're done, I really enjoyed that."

He smiled back "We will."

She flashed him one last smile before closing the door behind her.

Ruby gave the boy one last long hug before she released him and stepped to the door herself where the others awaited.

She turned back as the others had and said "Come back to us... okay?"

Roxas nodded meeting her eyes "I will."

And with that, she left Roxas in the room, entering the room filled with her friends, Ansem and DiZ. She closed the door behind her and saw that DiZ was sitting by at the desk with all the strangely shaped monitors before him.

"That appeared so sincere on Roxas's part that it was almost heartfelt." DiZ said sounding almost _not_ condescending _._

Ruby only scowled as she noticed her sister and Weiss were as well, leading her to believe that the man had said something to them as well "Can you not be a total jerk for like a second?" Ruby shot back.

He merely chuckled turning back to the monitors where one was capturing the image of Roxas alone in the room they had just left, explaining how he had seen their interaction. She turned and caught sight of Ansem as he had his arms crossed, turned away from the monitors appearing even more reserved than usual. The group huddled around DiZ clearly wanting to observe what was going on despite not wanting to be near the less than agreeable man that was DiZ. Ruby saw the room Roxas was in, the hallway where they had seen the two potential Faunus as well as an extremely _bright_ room seemingly filled completely by White contrasting harshly with the rooms before it.

The group watched as Roxas stepped into the hallway, pausing for a moment to study the same two figures Ruby had spotted before continuing forward, and past the door DiZ had strictly told them to refrain from entering.

Ruby had to switch focus to another screen as she watched Roxas emerge into the white room, where she could now make out a distinct white structure jutting out from the floor in the center. It was only when Roxas entered the room that she realized how enormous it must be from how small Roxas appeared with his black coat contrasting the whiteness of the overall room.

She watched with worried anticipation as he stepped forward, drawn to the center of the room towards whatever the that structure was. Ruby peeled her eyes trying to make out more of the structure the the whiteness of the room made it hard for her to distinguish the equally white formation in its center.

Finally, Roxas stood in front of whatever it was and DiZ hit a single key on the keyboard. Ruby looked down at the man and caught a grin of victory resting on his face as he sat there. She furrowed her eyes at this before looking back up at the monitor that showed Roxas. The center structure started to shift and move, it almost appeared as if it were...

"It's opening." Weiss said seemingly as focused on the object as Ruby was. Ruby's eyes widened as she finally understood what the object in the room actually was.

"It's an egg." She said aloud "Like the ones in the hallway, only... a lot bigger." This one made Roxas seem insignificant by comparison. As it opened Ruby could see her friend draw closer, seemingly fascinated by the contents within.

"Is that... Sora?" Yang asked watching the screen just as intently.

"Yes... soon you all will get to meet him. Once Roxas is absorbed back into him." DiZ said with a smile.

"You mean once Sora takes from Roxas what he needs is all." Ruby corrected appearing disturbed "Sora and Roxas are **both** coming out of this, _right_?"

"Ah yes," the man tried to put on a somber expression, one to reflect his seriousness, but Ruby caught a smirk for just a moment before it disappear "Thank you for _correcting_ me."

Ruby momentarily raised her head and caught a look from Weiss that told her that she wasn't the only one to catch that. Ruby stared at Weiss with a questioning look that read 'what's going on here?'. Weiss appeared puzzled as well before her eyes widened with horror.

"Ah, it's beginning, wonderful." The man said appearing satisfied "It is a good thing what your... _friend_ is doing right now." Ruby could tell it had been difficult for him to choke out the word.

"Ruby get in there **now**." Weiss said with the graveness of death itself.

"What?" Ruby said, looking up confused.

"He knows Roxas's plan won't work!" Weiss said with her eyes staring in horror at the screens before them "He's letting Roxas **sacrifice himself right now right in front of us!** "

Ruby's eyes widened in fear too, mirroring Weiss as she turned back to the monitors and saw what was happening. Roxas was standing still in front of the container, but his form was growing... _fuzzier_ , as if he was fading away in front of them.

 _ **No**_

"What?!" Yang shouted in a fiery roar as she too understood in that moment what was going on.

"Run Ruby go **now!** " Weiss screamed again.

The girl turned towards the door in response but just as she did she heard DiZ announced " **Seize her.** "

Just as her feet has begun to carry her to the door Ruby felt a hand grip around her shoulder halting her in her tracks.

"Please don't make this harder than it-" The man began solemnly just before a golden fist planted itself directly into the side of his skull. Ruby felt the hand on her shoulder release as Ansem's body was slammed against the side of the room from the force of Yang's punch.

Seething with rage the girl roared " **Go Ruby n-** " but before she could hear the rest of the rest of her sister's command Ruby had already blurred out of the room.

As she left she could hear DiZ's voice called out "It's already **too late**!"

Rose petals trailed her path as she raced through the room with the neon lights and into the hallway only pausing for the half second it took to open the metal door enough space for her slim body to squeeze past. Although she was moving so fast that the two rooms were less than 5 seconds for her to move through, although she was moving so fast that to someone viewing her from outside it would appear that she was nothing but a swirling blur of rose petals, she felt like every second she moved was **too slow**.

 _No no no_ _ **NO**_ _please don't let me be_ _**too late!**_ _Move_ _ **faster! Go!**_

Ruby felt like an eternity had passed by the time she'd finally opened the door into the vast whiteness where she scanned the room looking for Roxas's form . DiZ's words rang in her mind as in that moment she couldn't spot Roxas's black shape in the sea of whiteness and the panic she was feeling in her chest tightened into a painful ball of fear. Had she truly been too late? Did her friend really just **disappear** in front of her?

"Roxas!" she cried her voice cracking as she caught the faintest outline of a dark figure towards the center of the room. Ruby again felt herself lift off the ground as she began nothing more than a wave of crimson Rose petals within the space of whiteness before she collided with Roxas's form, knocking him away from the pod.

She stared down at him with tears forming in her eyes. He was translucent beneath her, staring up at her with wide shocked eyes.

"R-ruby?" he barely managed to choke out. She had managed to separate he and the pod by more than five feet by their collision, but Ruby could already see that it **hadn't** had an affect, his body was still fading away, he was still disappearing within her arms.

"I-I'm sorry." he was barely able to choke out as he stared up at her "I-I thought I was enough, I- I thought it would work."

"No,No,No,No!" She said crying as she held Roxas tightly to her chest, his shoulder was growing wet from her face "Please tell me there's something I can do to stop this!"

She felt a light hand press against her back as he did his best to return the hug "It-it's okay Ruby... y-you couldn't... have known." Ruby felt the boy grow limp in her arms and lifted her head to see that the translucence had grown to the point that she could barely still see him, still even _feel_ the weight of him in her hands.

"No,no,no,no,no!" Ruby stammered looking down at her friend as she was only able to repeat herself at this point, pulling him closer to her hoping that would be enough to stop what was about to happen "No! Please No, No,No!"

 _ **NO.**_

Ruby felt something within her snap, some wall dropping itself for this very moment as she reared her head back and shouted a single " **NO!** " The whiteness around her suddenly appeared dull, gray even as a _true_ whiteness, a blinding, pure white filled the room and her vision, completely engulfing her and what remained of Roxas in her arms. The feeling she held continued for several seconds, nothing but the brightest shining light, before everything went black.

* * *

"What was **that**?" DiZ roared in anger as he stood staring down at the screen aghast. The screen had suddenly grown completely white to the point that he'd had to shield his eye from it's intensity before the screen exploded, going black.

Yang had her back pressed against the wall with Ansem's elbow digging into her neck holding her there despite her wiggling. She was snarling at him trying to push his arm away before they both turned to look at the now darkened screen.

Weiss, who had been in the process of trying to pry Ansem away from her friend and froze too to look back and see what had come of Ruby's efforts.

"Was that supposed to happen?" Weiss questioned with wide eyes.

"No... it **wasn't**." DiZ responded with disdain, frowning deeply at the screen "Ansem! Go see what became of Roxas!"

Ansem released the girl and headed towards the door. Yang fell to the floor on her hands and knees coughing as she held her throat. Weiss could only glare at the man as he passed her towards the metal door. Just as he reached for the handle however, he froze.

"Wait." he said gravely "But, what if Sora... is awake?"

"Then we succeeded." DiZ said in a 'matter of fact' way.

"But... I cannot have him... _see me_ like this." the man looked down at his chest, gesturing to himself.

DiZ stared at Ansem, the two locking eyes before sharing a look of understanding. DiZ scowled before turning towards where Weiss was kneeling next to her still coughing friend.

"You two may go to your friend." he said seemingly begrudgingly.

Weiss looked up with scowl "What?" she spat with anger.

"We will not impede your path." He said raising a hand, motioning towards the door "Go."

Yang finally catching her breath looked up and met the man's gaze, glaring at him before rising to her feet.

"C'mon," she said coldly staring down Ansem who looked to the floor "Let's go."

The two made their way past DiZ and Ansem with deep glares, staring the two down with scowls. DiZ appeared resolute as he stared back at them where as Ansem appeared almost ashamed, studying the ground and averting their gaze.

The door shut behind them after entering the room with the neon lights decorating the floor they raced to the next one, moving far slower than Ruby had, but going as fast as their feet would carry them. They exited the room and pasted the hallway in less than a minute before the two stood within the vast room of whiteness with looks of wonder.

They both stared through the haze of white before Weiss raised a finger "There!" she shouted, pointing to a vague shape of color lying on the floor.

The two dashed forward, Yang leading the run as her feet carried her just slightly faster. Tears began to form at the corner of the girl's eyes as she neared the form, Weiss cupped her mouth as she too was able to see the shape clearly.

Shapes, she realized was the right word.

Lying on the ground with their eyes closed were Ruby and Roxas with the latter in Ruby's lap, seemingly unconscious, but both breathing by the slow but steady rises of their chests.

Yang fell to her knees as she lifted her sister to her chest, hugging her tightly just as Weiss did the same to Roxas's limp form.

"You did it little sis," Yang choked out before looking over toward Roxas.

Her eyes met with Weiss who was also crying, nodding as she said "She did... I don't know how, but she did it."

"Um... is everything okay?" Rang an unfamiliar voice. Both Weiss and Yang slowly turned their heads towards the voice which came from the direction of the massive opened pod. Slowly climbing down from the egg shaped vessel with shaky legs was a boy with spiky brown hair dressed in red.

His bright blue eyes met theirs and a look of confusion was clearly written on his face "Hey, uh, if you don't mind me asking." he paused as his large yellow shoes touched the flat surface, finally regaining stable footing "Who are you people?"

* * *

 _ **AN:**_ _This chapter was NOT supposed to be this damn long! Eighteen pages! Eighteen pages when I originally intended that it would only span maybe eight or nine! I don't know what happened here. I don't know why it became another monster chapter, and I actually thought to divide it into two since as two chapters each chapter would have still been longer than what my standard USED to be (dear god what has happened to me?). Now, that being said about how long this thing is I'm certain that there are a plethora of grammar and spelling mistakes but alas, I did my best. If you catch any one that you just find unbearable be sure to mention it in a review and I'll correct it. Anyway I suppose I didn't account for the fact that they were going back to Twilight town in my mind rough draft of what I expected the chapter to become. When I realized that I couldn't stop myself from having the four of them up there on the clock tower enjoying Roxas's most favorite treat. (BTW! One of my reviewers,Remnant7 found this recipe for sea salt ice cream that they sent to me and thought I should share it with all of you! So enjoy!_

 **Ingredients**

 **2 eggs**

 **2 cups milk**

 **1⁄3 cup sugar**

 **1 teaspoon vanilla**

 **1 cup heavy whipping cream**

 **sea salt (be careful with this)**

 **blue food coloring (looks better with it) (optional)**

 **green food coloring (looks better with it) (optional)**

 **Directions**

 **Separate the eggs into two good sized bowls.**

 **Beat the egg whites until stiff.**

 **Mix the egg yolks and sugar until thick.**

 **Slowly bring the milk to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.**

 **Pour the hot milk into yolk/sugar mixture and mix well.**

 **Pour milk/yolk/sugar mixture back into pot and heat on medium until thicker to make a custard (DON'T LET IT BOIL! also, if you can't get it to a custard thickness,just get it as thick as you can).**

 **Pour custard in with beaten egg whites and mix well.**

 **Add sea salt (keep adding salt until it tastes salty sweet, but be careful not to add to much).**

 **Put mixture in fridge to cool.**

 **Once cool, add cream and vanilla .**

 **(Optional) Add 12 drops of blue coloring, and 3 drops of green coloring.**

 **Freeze, following your ice cream maker's instructions.**

 **If you don't have an ice cream maker pour mixture into 1 or 2 metal cake pans and set in freezer. Let sit until edges become firm, then remove and mix. Repeat until uniformly frozen.**

 _Unfortunately my attempts have been less than successful as I'm a terrible cook in real life, but if you find that you have the time to actually make this tasty treat, don't hesitate to post a review and tell me how it is!_

 _Also! A special thanks goes out to Warrior of six blades who was the personal inspiration for the scene where Weiss confronts her inner demons against the faunus, drawing the parallels between she and DiZ's views against the Nobodies. He wrote multiple impressive scenes out for me to draw inspiration from and while the scene didn't exactly play out how he'd designed it, I did often look back on it for focus and am very happy on how it turned out personally.(you may have a different opinion lol). So thank you very much for the effort you put into this chapter Warrior! Know that it was appreciated and I hope you were satisfied with how it turned out!_

 _Moving on, I found this chapter both difficult and then fun to write. The first part was a trudge as I was still deciding how I wanted to tackle what was to be the second half of the chapter with DiZ and how to write him (I suppose this is why the first half of the chapter began with a diversion to the clock tower eh?) hopefully it didn't feel messy when actually reading it. However, it appeared this was effective as the second half of this chapter practically wrote itself. Within two days I had written from when they enter the mansion to the final words of the chapter, and it was a blur. I don't know exactly what clicked in my mind, but when it did everything went into overdrive lol._

 _I don't know if it will be as emotionally moving for all of you but writing out the panicked sprint of Ruby trying to save her friend had tears literally forming in my eyes forcing me to pause in order for my vision to stop blurring. Hopefully that translated as well as it did with chapter 14._

 _Hopefully you all liked the chapter (as it was quite a task to complete lol) and to all of you that I failed to respond to via PM be it I missed your review or failed to respond to your opinion on a matter please know that I am sorry. I try to respond to each and every one of you and it can be a lot sometimes on top of writing the actual chapter itself, know that I will get to it as soon as I am capable and am not ignoring you as I am often thrilled to be talking to others so passionate about the story. (in fact after I post this I'll be going back to my PM box to go respond to some pm's I hadn't realized I had missed!)_

 _I believe that it all for now, again I thank you all for the support and implore you all to create an account so that you may follow the story as well as so that I may respond to your reviews properly as I will respond to every account review via PM to the best of my ability!_

 _Until next time!_


	25. Chapter 25: What Comes After

Roxas felt like he was weightless, his body like air as he floated on nothingness. He tried to look out and see, to find _something_ in what appeared to be a vast void, but his eyes were met with nothing but bleak whiteness, _emptiness_. He looked down at his hands and found nothing, he redirected his attention towards his body but seemingly was staring through his own chest as his view was filled with whiteness.

' _Is this it? Am I finally gone?'_

His voice echoed out, ringing in all directions but at the same time it felt like it wasn't real, like he had merely heard it in his own mind.

Suddenly he could hear something, a voice, but only faintly. They were repeating something over and over again... what were they saying? Roxas did his best to hone in on the noise, focusing with whatever was allowing him to hear the noise. Suddenly, he felt something gripping his shoulder. Perplexed he looked down and could _see_ a slender hand holding onto his slowly reforming shoulder, grasping him like their life depended on it. His senses were slowly returning to him, he wasn't standing like he thought he had been, his body was horizontal, laying on the ground. He looked down and could see his chest again, reappearing slowly as his shoulder had.

' _what's going on?'_ He spoke his words beginning to sound less like a thought and more like an actual noise again.

He could finally make out the noise he'd heard earlier, it was a word, a single word that was being repeated over and over again by a voice that was beginning to recognize.

"...Ruby?"

* * *

Roxas jolted up with wide eyes, several large beads of sweat running down the sides of his face as he gasped for air. He placed to a hand to his chest as he tried to catch his breath feeling as if he'd just been drowning and this was the first breath of air he'd been able to recover. He slowly collected himself, forcing the panic down as he started to take in his surroundings, then he frowned.

He was currently sitting in a relatively small single bed with plain white sheeting and a wooden bed frame. It was positioned against the side wall with a small window behind him letting in warm rays of sunlight. Beside him was a simple wooden night stand with a glass jug of water and a single cup. Roxas eagerly grabbed the jug dismissing the cup entirely as he lifted it to his lips taking liberal gulps of water as he did so. After downing over half of the jug's contents he slowly placed it back taking a second to study the rest of the room. It was small, seemingly only half the size of the dorm room he'd had at Beacon with the only other furniture in the room being a wooden old fashioned coat rack as well as an aged yet well maintained desk across from him pushed against the other side of the wall.

He slowly rose from the bed stretching as he did so as it felt as if he'd been in that bed for days with how sore his muscles were. He groaned groggily and noticed that his coat had been taken from him and placed on the coat rack just beside the closed wooden door. He took a step towards it and noticed immediately that something felt... _off._

He staggered as he took the step, holding his chest tightly in a frown as he tried to understand what he was feeling. It was as if a weight he'd grown accustomed to had been... removed?

He took a few more steps breathing large breaths as he furrowed his eyebrows. Something was definitely different, but he couldn't quite determine just what as he pulled his coat off of the rack.

 _What happened to me?_

He thought as he slipped the attire back on, covering his normal black pants and T-shirt. He tried to remember what had happened after he'd stepped into the room with Sora. He'd approached the pod and watched mystified as it opened revealing a sleeping boy with spiky brown hair. He remembered approaching the boy, stepping just in front of him before... something... started to happen. He remembered his body growing numb and his vision growing fuzzy as he'd struggled to remain conscious, as just standing became all he could do. Then he... couldn't remember anymore.

"Where... am I?... wait." he said pausing his thoughts as his ears picked up on something coming from outside the door. It sounded like... laughter?

Roxas grabbed the round door knob and opened the door with ease before stepping out and recognizing where he was finally. He was standing atop the upper terrace just before the railing that loomed over the bottom level of the mansion. He could even see across him on the other side of the terrace the 'library' room that lead down to where he'd last seen his friends.

The laughter grew louder seemingly coming from below prompting the young man to take a step forward, leaning on the wooden railing as he peered down. His eyes widened as he blinked several times in surprise trying to understand exactly what his eyes were telling him. In the center of the wide empty room sat both Yang and Weiss each with their backs turned to Roxas as they clapped for what appeared to be some sort of... _dog_ man. He was smiling with large buck teeth, a dark furry face and floppy ears while also sporting a long tan colored snout. He seeming pleased with himself as he stuck a dignified pose and said

"A'hyuk! And then! Just when Sora needed us most! Donald and I!-" The Dog man pulled a nearby... _duck_ man so that he was shoulder to shoulder with one and other despite the looming height of the dog man contrast to the white feathered yellow billed duck.

Roxas tuned out the two as the duck man protested the dog man's...

 _Goofy..._

A voice told him in the back of his mind as he stared down at the spectacle. He blinked several times at this revelation but chose to accept it nonetheless.

As Goofy rattled on about some sort of adventure of valor he and … _Donald_...had supposedly been a part of, Roxas noticed that a trio of figures were sitting cross legs in front of the show with the back of their heads faced towards Him.

He could recognize two of the figures, one was Weiss, appearing bemused by Goofy's show as she clapped and laughed. Yang was beside her, clearly trying to get into the reenactment as she continuously decided to take the role of the villains in the bit as she'd laugh maniacally and attempt her best villain voice whenever the need would arise.

Beside her however was a figure he didn't know so well, from behind, he could only make out a massive mess of brown spiky hair, a short sleeved black and white detailed hoodie and a bright shade of red shorts.

"Sora..." He whispered under his breath as he made the connection to the boy he'd seen inside the pod.

Roxas furrowed his brows as he realized that Goofy and Donald's voices had stopped echoing throughout the room. Looking back to them he saw that they were now staring up at him meeting his gaze with wide eyes and mouths slightly agape.

"Oh..." He mumbled to himself as the others whipped their heads around to stare at him. He saw the looks of surprise expressing themselves on Yang and Weiss's features before bright smiles formed from their lips.

"Roxas!" They both cheered in unison as they rose to their feet. Weiss took to the stairs quickly ascending them as Yang decided to take a different route. Seemingly doing away with the concept of stairs entirely the blonde haired girl leapt into the air before aiming her two shot gauntlets towards the ground, firing the two weapons in unison and launching her straight over the railing beside Roxas.

"You're awake buddy!" She cheered pulling him into a tight embrace. Their height difference left Roxas's face smothered in her upper torso. The boy thought the embrace somewhat softer than what he'd grown accustomed to, but despite the comfort it felt weird to him for a reason he could not distinguish.

Seemingly recognizing this, Yang released the embrace early, appearing to blush from her mistake.

"Er- Sorry about that." She said embarrassingly scratching the back of her head not meeting his gaze.

Before he had time to comment he felt Weiss crash into him, drawing him into a much more traditional embrace, one that was tight as she pulled him to her.

"I'm so glad that you're awake... we were scared that-we thought that maybe you wouldn't-" The girl shook her head, seemingly ridding her mind of the thought "It doesn't matter. You're alright now. That's what matters."

He smiled back "Thanks. I'm glad I'm okay too." The two girls smiled back at him just as he looked towards the stairwell only to see the Goofy racing up it as well.

"What the-" Before Roxas could finish his statement, Weiss had been torn away from him and instead the boy felt himself within the tight embrace of this _strange_ canine.

"Oh Roxas!" Goofy began sounding almost choked up despite their unfamiliarity "We didn't know if you'd evah wake up! Ah'hyuck!" Roxas noted that the creature's voice held an odd dialect that fittingly could only be described as _goofy_.

"Uhhhhh," Roxas groaned as he remained stiff, not returning the embrace. He looked over pleadingly toward Weiss and Yang who were only covering their mouths trying to conceal their snickers.

After several more seconds Roxas determined that this canine wasn't planning on ending this embrace any time soon, or at least, not without a proper response.

"Uh, there, there." Roxas patted Goofy's back stiffly "I'm alright now. You can let go now."

"Gawrsh! It's so hard to!" The canine exclaimed clinging onto Roxas tighter pushing the breath out of the boy.

" _Goofy let the poor kid go_! _You're gonna squeeze him back to sleep doing that!_ " Said a much more guttural voice. Roxas peered over the canine's shoulder as could see that both Donald and Sora were ascending the staircase with the former appearing more than annoyed.

"Gawrsh I didn't realize! Sorry!" Goofy retorted as he quickly released Roxas who took several steps back coughing.

"C'mon Goofy, we only just met these people." Said a voice that made Roxas stop his coughing fit and look up, meeting two pools of blue that felt like a mirror as he stared into them.

The group seemed to part at these two finally met eyes, staring back at one and other with looks of surprise, looks of acknowledgment, and most of all, looks of uncertainty. They each bore wide expressionless eyes, each clearly not knowing how to proceed as they recognized each other. Several seconds of silence filled the large space as the two stood still, choosing to merely study one and other as they tried to come to some sort of decision on what to do next.

A smile flashing across his features, Sora shook his head seemingly shaking the uncertainty from his expression before reaching out a gloved hand for a handshake.

"Hi!" He said brightly "I'm Sora.I uh- know this is kinda weird. You're friends have told me a lot about you. And I know that this is um, well, I don't know how to describe this." The boy's smile wavered slightly from as he looked down clearly trying to make a good impression, he looked back up a moment later and said with a cheery demeanor "But either way it's good to meet you!"

Roxas took a moment to glance at Weiss and Yang who each smiled sheepishly as they're interest in astronomy suddenly peaked.

Roxas rolled his eyes with a faint smile as he took the hand "I'm sure they have." His smile widened "Roxas." he paused before adding "But I'm sure you already knew that."

"Haha yeah!" Sora responded pulling his hands behind his head casually "But I think it's nice that you introduced yourself anyway haha!"

Roxas felt something within himself want to join in on the laughter as he studied the boy's laid back features. Sora was carefree in his demeanor, relaxed, not tense in the same way that Roxas found himself at most times. It was a strange observation and Roxas momentarily questioned why he'd even made it.

"Ah'hyuck! And I'm Goofy! Nice to meet you!" The lanky dog man said stretching out a white gloved hand. Roxas smiled taking it.

" _I'm Donald. I keep him in line._ " The duck said with a grin. It was an odd feature to see on a duck of all things, leaving Roxas to question how a duck would even be able to smile. But that didn't stop Roxas from shaking his feathered hand when the hand was offered.

"And I'm Jiminy!" Said a much quieter voice.

Roxas's eyebrows furrowed as he traced the voice back to Sora who was grinning knowingly.

"Who just...?" Roxas began before he saw am extremely small figure emerge from Sora's pocket. The boy stuck out a flat hand which the creature promptly jumped onto.

With a bow he said"Sorry about that! Sometimes I forget that not everyone can see me!" he straightened his back before smiling and continued "I'm Jiminy! Jiminy cricket!"

As Roxas studied the figure's features he came to the realization that this thing _was_ a cricket, albeit a very well dressed one with a red vest, dark coat with two tails swinging in the back and a 1800's style top hat which he took off as he greeted the boy.

"Uh, hi." Roxas responded sheepishly. He saw that Jiminy was offering an outstretched hand and very carefully took the gloved hand with his index and thumb before performing the most subtle of hand shakes.

"A pleasure to meet you Roxas!" The cricket announced with a smile.

"The pleasure is all mine." Roxas responded calmly before he realized that... _something_ was _off_.

Suddenly, Roxas's head looked back and forth as a frown reshaped from his lips noticing something he scolded himself for not noticing sooner "Wait, Where's Ruby?"

The features on the groups faces grew more reserved as the room echoed with Roxas's voice.

"Who? Oh wait... Gawrsh that's..." Goofy started looking down with a frown. It was the first time Roxas had seen the canine not sporting a smile of some sort.

"What!?" Roxas shouted panic in his voice "What happened? Where is she? Did DiZ take-"

"She's okay,she's okay!" Yang said jumping into the conversation with her hands out in a calming motion "It's just-" she said looking away for a moment, rubbing her arm uncomfortably "We found her the same condition we found you."

Roxas felt himself relax slightly as he heard this "Oh... she was unconscious?"

Weiss nodded in confirmation.

"So... where is she now?"

* * *

The group paused outside of a room that was just a few doors down from where Roxas had stepped out. Roxas took the doorknob in his hand before twisting and stepping through, he frowned as he stared down at the sleeping the girl, appearing so peaceful tucked under plain white sheets.

A question that he hadn't thought to ask suddenly popped into his mind as Roxas said "How long have we been out?"

"About five or six hours now." Yang said with a frown. Roxas could see the clear signs of worry in her eyes as she stared down at her little sister.

"What happened? Why were we unconscious?" Roxas asked astutely.

Weiss shook her head "We don't exactly know honestly. All we know is that DiZ tricked you," she paused before adding "He tricked _all_ of us really. He knew that you're plan wasn't going to work. We all could see that you were fading away on the camera and Ruby was just fast enough to get to you in time."

As she said this Roxas's eyes widened, the memory of those moments flooding back to him now.

"We saw her reach you, and then everything-"

"Everything went white." Roxas finished her sentence with a nod.

Yang smiled down at her little sister "Whatever she did." she reached down, resting a gentle caressing hand against the girl's cheek "She managed to save you. She actually stopped it." a pang of pride could be seen bleeding through Yang's tone in those words.

"Speaking of which," Weiss continued "What _did_ exactly happen? Do you recall at all what she did to accomplish this?" She asked taking her typical studious tone.

Roxas shook his head "Not a clue, All I know is..." he paused, collecting himself as he reflected on what he'd felt in those moments "I was gone. I don't know if I was completely gone... but I was so close that I may as well have been." he sighed looking down before his attention returned to Ruby's sleeping form "Thank you." he quietly whispered to the girl.

" _It's okay Sora... It's not your fault._ " Said Donald behind them, prompting Roxas to turn and face the boy. Sora was looking away with a shameful expression. A deep frown plastered on his face looking wrong on the usual cheerful teen. Donald's hand was resting on the boy's arm as the duck looked up at the boy with concern.

Roxas's mouth gaped as he realized what he had been describing to the teen. He'd been describing how Sora's reawakening was taking _everything_ away from himself.

 _It must feel awful knowing that you're responsible for something like that._

"I'm just gonna wait downstairs." Sora said forcing a smile as he realized that the others had noticed his discomfort "I think this is uh- a little too personal for us to be apart of." he flashed one more smile before exiting the doorway.

The room grew quiet as Yang, Weiss, and Roxas each stood stiffly beside each other.

"Hey... Roxas?" Yang asked suddenly.

"Yes?"

"What exactly are we going to do now?" Yang asked motioning with a nod towards where Sora had just been standing "With him?"

"I..." Roxas began before realizing that he didn't have an answer. What _were_ they going to do? What _should_ they do? Roxas realized that he'd been so focused on the simple task of returning Sora to consciousness that he didn't even stop to consider what would come next.

"What happened to DiZ and Ansem?" Roxas suddenly asked, conflicted about the hopefulness in his voice "They would probably know what to do with Sora."

Weiss shook her head "The two disappeared quite suddenly after we came and collected you from that large chamber. Sora awoke moments after that. And when we returned to the... um... well I suppose I could call it the _monitoring_ room there was no trace of them."

Yang nodded confirming this fact "We searched the mansion just to make sure, apparently Sora and Ansem have some sort of... _history_ together."

Roxas furrowed his brows "Yeah, I thought that they were friends or something. That's what Ansem said."

"Well that's certainly not what Sora told us." Weiss said crossing her arms "Apparently Ansem was a force of darkness that did a lot of bad things, corrupting multiple worlds, and nearly drowning everything to the darkness." The girl paused before adding "Or so Sora's said. Apparently, the two are actually enemies, **not** friends."

"Huh..." Roxas mumbled cupping his chin "but... I thought... he seemed so sincere about that..." Roxas said regarding Ansem.

Weiss shook her head "Nope. Sora was adamant about that fact, he also appeared quite concerned that Ansem had returned. It seems that Sora and his friends defeated this 'Ansem' fellow some time ago and the fact the he's returned is quite a big deal."

"Great." Roxas grumbled.

 _First the Organization and now we apparently have this Ansem guy to deal with... but wait._

"Why would Ansem _help_ us wake up Sora if the two are enemies? It makes no sense."

Weiss sighed growing annoyed "Look I don't have all the answers. If you'd like to know more maybe you should go down there and talk to him yourself. You'd probably get more answers that way."

"What Weiss is trying to say." Yang began "Is that we don't exactly know what's going on. It turns out that Sora waking up has lead to a lot more questions than answers."

Roxas nodded, a puzzled expression on his face as he cupped his chin.

"So I suppose the only _real_ answer we can give to your question Yang." Weiss began sighing "Is that we haven't the slightest clue as to what we should do now that all is said and done. Is that about right Roxas?"

Roxas bore a reluctant smile "Yeah, that sounds about right."

* * *

Demyx found himself resting his face in his hand as he lazily sat atop one of the many crates filling the massive warehouse. His eyelids were half closed, but the pupils of his eyes were darting back and forth, following the traffic of people moving throughout the warehouse going about ordering and arranging its contents. The last few days had been a blur for the young Nobody as he'd not had a break with the group Roman Torchwick called the 'White Fang'. From what Demyx could gather, they were a bunch of people that had sorta animal-like features and all wore the same uniform of a white vest and mask. Pretty basic stuff. He knew they had some sort of _cause_ or ultimate goal but he didn't feel like going through the trouble of actually figuring out what that was. Instead his mind was going over the events that had granted him back his powers just days ago.

He closed his eyes as his memories replayed the strange scene. He recalled entering a relatively small room, he suspected he would have seen something like an office space if it hadn't been too dark to truly make out anything. Roman, Neo, Mercury and Emerald had all been told to wait outside by Cinder who had walked into the room side by side with the Nobody. Demyx remembered seeing something... _odd_ almost floating in the center of the room before it approached, becoming clearer as it did so. However, revealing what it was only left Demyx wondering yet again just _what_ it was. Demyx could make out a dark black translucent sphere with a swirling cloud of purple and red inside with shards of hard white shell littered atop it's exterior. The bottom of the floating sphere bore an opening lined with sharp fangs that appeared almost canine in nature. Dangling limply from this opening were several red, vein-like tendrils each reaching to the ground despite the fact that the orb hung in the air above Demyx's head.

The Nobody remembered Cinder taking a step forward and kneeling before the object before shooting him a gaze that demanded he do the same. Complying, Demyx found himself on one knee keeping his gaze to the floor as the anxiety he'd felt before around Cinder seemed laughable to what he was experiencing in the presence of this mysterious device.

"This man is like the one who was responsible for the imprisonment of Torchwick. He has powers that are identical, but have been locked away by the power of Ozpin." Her gaze fell on the orb "I request that you unlock his abilities so that they might be used for our cause."

The room fell silent and the seconds ticked by as a nervous sweat began to roll down Demyx's face. He wanted to look up, to see what this disturbing looking orb was doing in response to this request but something told him that he shouldn't gaze upon it without permission. Each second felt like an hour as he continued to study the vacant ground, his knee growing sore from the constant pressure.

Suddenly without warning Demyx caught a glimpse of red out of the corner of his eye before he felt something flesh like wrap around his neck. The Nobody gagged as the tendril tightened, cutting off his windpipe as it pulled him up and off of the ground. Demyx's feet fluttered in a panic as his fingers desperately worked at the bind _strangling_ him. His eyes were wide with panic as he first looked to the expressionless orb, trying to make out _something_ that would indicate just why it was doing this before deciding to look over to Cinder in desperation. His eyes met hers and he saw the same confusion and panic that he himself was going through in her gaping mouth and expression of stunned horror. It appeared to him that she _wanted_ to help but knew she wasn't allowed to.

Dymex's vision began to litter with black spots and his mind was growing fuzzy as his struggling grew less and less. Soon the Nobody was only barely clinging onto consciousness as his arms fell to his sides limply before he faintly felt a small pressure against the center of his chest. The grip on his neck was suddenly released and Demyx found himself collapsing to the ground, coughing for air as he held a single hand to his throat.

A enforcing voice with an almost feminine nature announced " **He is restored.** ". Demyx didn't waste any time as he quickly recovered his breath before scrambling to his feet and rushing out of the room.

"Hey space cadet, you okay there?"

Demyx blinked his eyes rapidly as he was drawn out of the memory by the voice. A young woman with dark tan skin and deep pools of red for eyes was standing before him.

Her short mint colored hair swayed with her head as she placed a hand on her hip "Hey c'mon hair spray get it together, it's time to go."

Demyx shook his head ridding himself of the memory before pushing himself off of the crate to his feet.

"Right. I'm on it don't gotta worry bout a thing." He said with a convincing smile.

The girl smiled back before turning and walking away towards where a group of White Fang troops were stiffly waiting in a group. Demyx sighed scratching the side of his head as he contemplated how much effort he would have to put into this little heist. He stepped forward taking a place between where Mercury and Emerald were waiting, the former clearly growing impatient.

"C'mon now, let's get a move on already." He complained.

"Well I gotta know where we're going first now don't I?" Demyx responded with the same level of attitude.

Roman stepped forward, several photographs in his hand "Here, it's the storage facility we scoped out together earlier." Demyx recalled their little stroll through a town he couldn't bother remembering the name of.

"Right..." Demyx said taking the image from the man.

"We need you to create the portal right here." Roman said pointing to a point corner of the room. It appeared that the picture had been taken from outside from a very awkward angle.

 _Probably Emerald's work_

Demyx thought to himself as he nodded while simultaneously raising his unoccupied hand. A moment later dark flames erupted from the ground swirling in a mixture of dark purples and blacks. Roman's lips peeled into a smile "I'm never gonna get tired of having free access to _anything_ and _everything._ "

There was an awkward pause as Roman's smile slowly faded into a frown. Whipping his head around, he addressed the nearest masked man and shouted "Well? What is it that you're waiting for? Get a move on!"

The man nodded nervously before he turned and called out for the others to follow.

"Brilliant." Roman said his smile returning "I knew you were worth it kid." the man said patting Demyx on the back "You've made things **so** much easier."

"Thanks." Demyx responded. The Nobody stretched before walking away, resuming his place on the crate before summoning his Sitar, the Arpeggio. A frown formed on his lips as a thought entered his mind which had been frequenting his thoughts ever since his powers had returned.

 _Why am I even doing any of this?_

Demyx knew that with his powers returned to him that he was fully capable of returning to the organization. He'd even found his coat on the way out of the jail, so there was no risk of being consumed by the darkness by the journey. None of them had any means of restricting him from fleeing right here and now.

He stared at a point on the floor only a few feet away from him.

 _I could summon a Corridor right there and head back._

But he realized that he didn't _want_ to.

The Nobody sighed as he let his head fall back and stared up at the ceiling with a dead panned expression. He knew he'd been with the Organization for what felt like _forever_. It had become natural for him to return every day after his sometimes less than successful missions. This had been the first time since his recruitment that he'd spent so much time away. He'd grown used to his routine, and as a result, he'd never thought to question why he'd done it all.

 _You know why you stuck with them you dummy, why you_ _ **should**_ _be heading back_ _ **right now**_ _._

Demyx rolled his eyes at his own inner monologue as he admitted to himself that he _did_ in fact know why he stuck around. As far as he knew, the Organization was the only way he'd ever obtain a heart of his own again.

 _But what about Roxas..._

His mind drifted to the last time he'd seen the very boy responsible for all of this mess, responsible for his initial loss of powers, responsible for his imprisonment, and by extension responsible for this inner dilemma he was facing. But those facts weren't the reason his mind came to Roxas in reflection of how to obtain his heart.

 _He..._ _ **cried.**_

For what had to be the thousandth time Demyx replayed the scene in his head as he reflected on what had been the most confusing thing he'd ever seen during his time with the organization. He remembered being uncomfortable as the rough bristled ropes tightly pinned him to the hard wood chair leaving very little for him to do. They hadn't gagged him however, which he'd deemed to have been a mistake on their part as it left him to consistently interrupt the conversation being held between Roxas and whoever the rest of those people were. He was sure the they'd said their names at some point, but he hadn't bothered to remember.

He remembered loosely following the conversation, his eyes wandering around the room as he took in the strange surrounding. Catching a glimpse of a set of tea cups on the professor's desk left the Nobody parched as he realized that he could go for a cup of tea just as a very particular set of words struck his ear drums.

"His name was Axel. He wanted to get to me. He thought getting to them would get to me. I'm sorry."

"His name... _ **was**_ Axel?"

At that moment Demyx's carefree attitude abandoned him, realization crashing into him like a tsunami wave.

"Wait wait wait," Demyx remembered calling out "You're not saying what I think you're saying...right? You didn't- Axel isn't-"

The solemn look on Roxas's face said it all.

Demyx couldn't remember specifically what he'd said after that, he knew that he'd lashed out and yelled at the boy, an act that he'd only really done because he thought that Axel deserved someone to be angry about his demise. The red haired assassin had always been kind to him, and for that, Demyx did what he thought was right.

Then something unexpected happened. The boy took in his words, his friends said something to him, and then the **Nobody cried**.

It baffled Demyx the moment he saw it. No matter how much acting and pretending any of the members of Organization XIII did, none of them had ever been able to actually cry. The only one who'd ever come close to it had been Demyx himself, and that had only through the use of onions and a _lot_ of practice.

"Was Roxas really..." He began to mumble to himself before dismissing the thought. Of _course_ Roxas was a Nobody. Demyx remembered seeing him day one. The boy was more dead inside than most of the organization members just starting out. There's no way that he wasn't a Nobody when he joined.

"But what about... now?" He quietly asked himself as he stared up at the ceiling. He couldn't deny that Roxas _had_ been a Nobody, but after what he'd seen with his own eyes, Demyx was beginning to doubt that this fact was still true.

 _Something..._ _ **here**_ _, changed him. Something about_ _ **this world**_ _caused him to become... a somebody?_

Demyx couldn't immediately confirm or deny whether Roxas had truly regained his heart by some miraculous phenomenon. His tears had been convincing, but that was just one instance, and despite his carefree oblivious attitude towards most things, Demyx knew that he shouldn't come to a conclusion too quickly; especially when it was about something _this big._

"I need to find out what really happened... I need to learn …the truth." Demyx finally said finding the sentence too mature and serious for his own taste. He wanted to know what had happened to the boy, if he had actually become whole once more, if he'd found a way for Nobodies to finally, after all this time, be complete.

"Maybe that's it." Demyx mumbled to himself as he reached a conclusion. If this world truly had the answer to his heart, then that would mean that he no longer needed the Organization. If this world could finally provide what Organization XIII had failed to achieve after all this time, then what was the point of going back? To be lectured by Xemnas? To be looked down on by the other members of the Organization simply because he was too lazy, or rather, better at pretending to be lazy? To be forced to do jobs that never actually felt like they were making any progress towards obtaining a heart once more?

"Yeah forget that." Demyx said louder than he intended as he crossed his arms with a frown. The Organization had already forgotten about him like they did _any_ member who went MIA. They didn't care enough to send a search party out when he'd been jailed, unlike the White Fang or whoever Roman's group was that broke him out of Jail. They clearly _valued_ their members unlike a certain Organization he knew. In fact, as the Nobody reflected on the topic he realized that this had been the first time he'd known he was actually _valuable_ to the team and not just another pawn. He knew that this group _needed_ him, they were grateful for his service, and although he knew he couldn't actually feel fondness for them, he did know that he preferred this dynamic over the setup that he had with the Organization.

"What was that?" Chimed a feminine voice.

Demyx's gaze, which had been studying the floor intensely, suddenly jolted up before meeting the gaze of two bright crimson eyes.

"Oh uh, Emerald was it?" He asked trying to revert back to his relaxed demeanor despite the raging discussion going on in the back of his mind.

She smiled back at him nodding which caused her short cut mint green hair to sway "That's right. You don't have the greatest time with names, do you?"

He responded with a grin that said 'You got me'.

"Well that's fine. I'm sure you'll get to know everyone with time." As she said this the young woman hosted herself onto the same box Demyx was sitting on, her thigh only inches away from his own "Man it's strange not having to do anything now that we have you. Just portal into the room, take what we want and leave." She sighed, looking almost bored that she wasn't needed for this heist before asking in a flat tone"Whatcha playin?"

Demyx looked to his Sitar which he'd been strumming absentmindedly throughout his inner monologue discussion.

"Not entirely sure." He admitted with a sheepish grin "Just a little melody that I like to play every now and then." In all reality he didn't know half of the songs he frequently played. He remembered most of his past life, but every now and then he'd find blank patches that he couldn't recall no matter how hard he tried. Despite this, and despite the fact that he couldn't actually recall how he'd learned to play the stringed instrument, his hands never forgot how to strum, how to transition into difficult and complex notes, and what his favorite songs were.

"Is that right?" She said smiling as she laid back on the crate, closing her eyes as she listened on with a peaceful expression.

"Yeah," He said growing more engaged with his music as he now had an audience "Actually sometimes I'll just start playing and something new will come out, it's like my hands have a mind of their own sometimes."

"Huh," She responded with eyes still closed "That's interesting. Well nonetheless it sounds pretty nice."

Demyx blinked a few times before smiling at the comment "Thanks." His fingers moved quicker as his motivation to play heightened. He'd never realized before but **no one** at the Organization had seemingly ever appreciated his music, let alone give him a compliment. From what he could gather, it had simply been something they'd had to bear with as the Sitar was his weapon of choice, leaving him with the excuse of "I'm sharpening my battle skills" whenever they would complain about the noise.

The melody picked up as the Nobody put more effort into the song which he still couldn't tell the name of. His fingers could execute a _decent_ tune when he wasn't focusing on it, but when his mind was in the music his fingers moved with such precision that Demyx doubted that _anyone_ could replicate it.

"Oh wow," Emerald suddenly commented as she sat up looking over at Demyx with raised eyebrows "That sounds pretty awesome."

His grin widened as he continued to play on, an intricately designed piece utilizing the higher notes in an effort to make the melody come off as less intense.

As he sat there strumming away at the instrument Demyx came to his conclusion. He liked it here, or rather, he preferred it here, at least for the time being. He'd stay for as long as it took for him to uncover the truth about Roxas and his heart. If things didn't work out, there was nothing that said he couldn't just go back to the Organization and continue doing things the way they had been. And hey, if he could get some fans and actually have an audience for once?

That was fine by him.

* * *

 _ **AN:**_ _Sorry for how long this chapter took to get out. It wasn't particularly long in any sense of the word. It stretched two pages longer than my standard, which I suppose is a slightly longer chapter. The real reason that this chapter took an extra week to get out is because while in the process of writing this, one of my close friends from high school committed suicide. It was a big hit and it completely deteriorated my motivations to write for a little while. I'm not looking for sympathy, that's not why I'm writing this. I only want to reach out to those who will read this and tell the few that I can that the stereotype 'you only know what you had once its gone' is absolutely true, and please do your best to value the people close to you while you can. Don't take advantage of anyone in your life, and if you are able to, please, reach out to your friends now. Text them, check up on them, maybe get together with them and hang out, because you never know when your last opportunity to do so will be. If you have a friend who's been distancing themselves from you, or you believe has been acting strangely or antisocial, please, reach out to them. Be there, and do everything you can, because if you don't, I promise you, you will forever regret it._

 _And also, I'm sure there are many of you that personally feel these depressions and at times may have some suicidal thoughts. Hell I myself had these thoughts many times during my time in high school. In fact it fueled my very first fanfic on this cite lol. It was terribly edgy and the angst was VERY apparent. So as a person who understands this dilemma, or at least to a certain extent, I offer myself as a listening ear if ANY of you ever feel you need someone to talk to. I know I'm just some guy on the internet, and that I'm not a close friend, but if ever any of you feel like you need to talk to someone about ANYTHING just to get it off of your chest, I PROMISE that I will respond and do my best to help the most that I can. This isn't an empty offer like you may feel some are when you hear these words. Those of you who have accounts and review know that I always respond to these reviews as well as the follow up comments via PM. It may take some time to get back to you due to how many there often are, but I always do my best to do so no matter what. So hey, if ever you're feeling down, you know you can get in touch your (hopefully) favorite author Roxashadow eh? How's that? and if not me, and you're having these dangerous thoughts, please PLEASE talk to someone like a parent or friend. You're parents love you, you're friends love you (if at a lesser extent regardless if they are willing to admit it), and if nothing else, know that I love you, and we all will be there for you if you decided to be strong and reach out to us._

 _I'm sorry for those of you who found that message annoying or inappropriate in a fanfic website, I just had to get that off of my chest really. I also hope the chapter didn't suffer due to this event, as I tried to maintain the relatively happy tone throughout the chapter without letting personal events bleed through._

 _As always, thank you all for being so supportive of the story and just being awesome people in general. It's been a blast writing this fic with all of you and I look forward to the many chapters to come._

 _Until Next Time!_


	26. Chapter 26:Moving Forward

Ruby's eyes slowly fluttered open before her tired gaze studied the simple wooden ceiling about her. She was still for several seconds before her eyes widened and she bolted upright, her head on a swivel as she studied the room around her. First, she took in that she was currently in a bed with a simple, single-size mattress. The blanket now bundled up in her lap was a basic white.

The room was equally simplistic with the only other furniture in the room being a lone desk and a coat rack next to the closed door.

Her brows furrowed as she held a hand to her head within which was a quickly forming headache "Wait... Where am I? What happen-" She stopped mid-sentence as the last moments she could remember before losing consciousness replayed in the back of her mind.

She remembered racing through the hallways and using the entirety of her semblance to blast through each room before finally reaching Roxas. She remembered holding the boy to her as he grew limp with bits and pieces of him slowly fading away. She remembered feeling completely helpless as she watched her friend disappear in her arms. She remembered pleading to no one for _something_ to happen that would stop whatever was happening to her friend.

Then it all went dark.

"N-no..." She sniffled, recalling the last moments she'd seen Roxas before his entire form became too translucent to distinguish. It wasn't long until warm streams of water began to run down the girl's cheeks.

"He's... he's really gone..." She mumbled beneath her breath as her shoulders began to quake.

"I... wasn't fast enough... nothing _sniff_ I did could help him..." Soon the girl wasn't saying words at all as the tears came down in torrents. For a moment she tried to wipe away the salty drips of sadness but ultimately gave up knowing that her sleeves wouldn't be enough to stop the waterfalls running down her face.

"He needed me and I failed him... He's gone now... I'll never get to-"

Suddenly, the door cracked open just enough to reveal Yang's concerned face "Ruby?" she asked with raised eyebrows.

Ruby's eyes met her sister's and she tried to sniff back the small trickle of snot that had begun to drip "I- I'm sorry Yang- I tried to so hard but I-"

"Ruby! Ruby, what's wrong?" Yang interrupted with a concerned look. Quickly the older sister moved to Ruby's side, holding her hand as she asked, "What's wrong? Are you okay? You're not hurt are you?"

Ruby took a deep breath, shaking her head before saying, "I'm crying because I failed! We all failed! I didn't exactly know what was going to happen, or what was really happening in general, but I didn't think we'd lose-"

"Ruby?" Asked a masculine voice this time, and one that Ruby recognized, instantly drawing her attention back to that door which was opening further now to reveal a familiar set of blue eyes and spiky blonde hair.

"Are you okay?" Roxas asked as he stepped into the room with a concerned frown.

"R-Roxas?" Ruby asked with stunned shock, not allowing her eyes to even blink as she tracked the boy walking over to her bedside.

"Yes?" He responded with confusion. "You do remember my face ri- Hey!" he called out as the raven-haired girl leapt from the bed and toppled over on top of the young man.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Roxas protested as Ruby wrapped her arms around his torso squeezing him so tight that he couldn't realistically determine if she ever planned to let go. She buried her face into his chest leaving a damp spot on his coat.

"I thought you were gone dummy!" She finally said. "I saw you go! I saw you disappear into nothing!" She finally pulled her face from Roxas's chest and looked up into his eyes, her tears had since stopped, but there were still beads of water as the corner of her silver eyes. "How are you okay?"

Roxas opened his mouth to answer but she shook her head, burying her face back into his chest. "You know what? I don't care how it happened. I'm just happy that you're okay." she said still nuzzling into his chest.

Roxas had to release a light chuckle from the girl's reaction. He gently placed a hand on her shoulder, prompting her to look back up at him. "You know," he began, "it's all because of you right?"

Ruby stared at him with a confused look written on her face. "Huh?" was her only response.

"We don't know how you did it as the cameras went white at the seemingly definitive moment of the event but we did deter- could you stop that now? He's okay, you can release him!" Weiss demanded, looking very crossover Ruby's tighter than usual embrace to Roxas's chest.

Ruby looked to Roxas and then back over to Weiss before sporting a sheepish grin and stepping away from the boy, idly placing her hands behind her back with a quiet 'sorry'.

"Thank you." Weiss said with a tone that suggested that she was still at least slightly annoyed. "Continuing onward, it appears that something _you_ did resulted in Roxas's continual existence, as well as the revival of Sora."

"Yeah, well maybe it was just Roxas's plan that worked- wait, Sora?" Ruby suddenly turned back to Weiss with a confused look.

"Hi there, is it alright if I introduce myself?" said a voice from the doorway.

A young man with spiky brown hair stepped into the room with bright pools of blue for eyes that felt oddly familiar to the raven-haired girl.

"Hi, I'm Sora." The boy said with an encouraging smile. "It's real nice to meet you. Everyone here has been super concerned about you, so I'm glad you're awake again."

"Hi..." Ruby said studying the boy with peeled eyes. She took his hand gingerly and as she shook it her eyes darted back and forth between him and Roxas, trying to draw a comparison. She hadn't truly understood their visit here, but from what she had gathered Sora was a... Somebody, while Roxas was his Nobody. What that exactly meant, she hadn't the slightest clue, but she did expect them to look at least similar.

From what she could draw from the two, they weren't very alike. Besides their height and blue eyes being the same, they didn't appear to resemble each other at all. Sora had a confident and outward demeanor, whereas Ruby always felt Roxas leaned towards a more reserved nature. Sora's stance said that he was comfortable with where he was despite it being new to him, whereas Roxas appeared just slightly on edge at all times. The only time she'd ever seen Roxas not on edge, in fact, was during their time spent on the top of the school starring out towards the sunset.

Sora flashed a brilliant cheery smile as he said. "Yang said you were a heavy sleeper, glad I got a chance to see you awake!"

Their smiles.

They were the same.

"Gawrsh I don't wanna intrude." said a strange sounding voice. Looking back towards the door, Ruby's eyes met those of a... dog man? And beside him a... duck...person? Wait, no she recognized these people, they were...

"You two were in the pods we found!" She said pointing a finger with a delighted expression.

Goofy cocked a head before Donald spoke up " _We were asleep too. Hi, I'm Donald Duck, my pleasure._ " He said stepping forward and taking her hand.

"Uh, the pleasure's all mine." She said with an awkward smile. This was all so strange.

"A-hyuck! And I'm Goofy!" the floppy dog man announced proudly. He looked like he was going in for a hug but paused with what appeared to be a concerned expression.

"I was gonna go in for a hug but, gawrsh, I've been told that I hug too tightly."

She smiled. "Well then, how about we just go in for a normal handshake?"

He smiled back, transfixed by her cute smile. "Okay!"

After being properly shaken around by Goofy's overly enthusiastic handshake the group fell into a silence.

"So... What now?"

"Well," Sora said drawing his hands behind his head, "I don't know about you all, but I'd like to figure out exactly where I am. Cuz uh," He paused looking around at the mansion with a frown, "I don't know what the heck is happening."

Roxas smiled. "I've got the perfect place to take us."

* * *

The group exited the forest line and into Twilight Town all the while chatting with one and other absentmindedly. Roxas refrained from this conversation as he took lead of the group, quietly thinking as they made their way towards the clock tower.

 _Should we bring them back with us? I don't know how we would since we only have three coats... would they even want to come with us? It feels wrong to just..._ _ **leave**_ _them here after I... we... well, brought them back from their slumber. There's so much that doesn't make sense right now, but no one seems to want to acknowledge it!_

He took a moment to glance back at the group as Sora, Ruby, Yang, and Goofy were all getting into a conversation about their homes and the team dynamic that was enforced by Beacon.

"So wait, your names have to spell out something? But, like, what if you get a bunch of people who have names like Allen, Alvin, Andrew, and Alex?"

Yang laughed. "Well then say hello to Team AAAAH!" The group fell into laughter.

Meanwhile, Weiss and Donald appeared to be speaking more quietly a little ways behind Ruby's group. They seemed to be discussing each other's magic components and trading notes on the matter.

"So you don't have to rely on a substance of any kind to perform your magic?"

" _Nope! Just comes from me and my wand!_ "

"Would you mind if I took a look at it some time?"

" _Not at all!_ "

As Weiss began studying the strangely shaped wand, Roxas sighed turning forward again to watch where he stepped.

Just as they began to cross a road that lead up towards their immediate destination an ominous noise filled the air. The group froze as tension washed over in a collective wave. It took less than a moment for swirling vortexes of darkness to begin forming in clumps surrounding the small group, prompting gasps of shock and looks of surprise.

" _Heartless!_ " Donald shouted, quickly retrieving his wand back from Weiss who bore a frown of stubborn annoyance.

Soon the group was surrounded by a small swarm of the dark creatures, however, to both Yang and Weiss's surprise, these weren't like the ones they'd confronted in the World That Never Was. Standing in the place of where they expected Shadows to be were more human-shaped Heartless bearing knight helms and distinctive brightly colors claws at the end of each finger.

"Stand back!" Sora announced as he, Donald and Goofy rushed to the front of the group. "These guys are dang-"

His sentence was cut short as a dark blur shot past the boy's right side before diving into the Heartless swarm. Before Sora could blink Roxas had driven his Oblivion straight into the chest of one of the Soldiers and slammed it's limp corpse into another resulting in a cloud of black dust. Spinning, Roxas cleaved two other Heartless using his Oathkeeper before leaping upward and just out of the way of a Soldier which had attempted to grapple him from behind.

"-gerous?" Sora continued with stunned shock as next a yellow blur shot past his left side and too entered the battle. Yang laughed as she connected a haymaker with a Heartless's chin before releasing an explosive blast which sent her elbow into an adjacent Soldier. Both Heartless evaporated a second later, freeing the girl up to perform a roundhouse kick that met with the side of a leaping Heartless and drove it straight into the ground where Roxas was waiting for it, driving his keyblades into its sternum.

"So troublesome." Sighed an annoyed sounding Weiss as she calmly stepped forward beside Sora wielding what appeared to be a rapier of sorts with a _strange_ looking contraption at its base. Sora stared at her open-mouthed as the base of the weapon began to rotate until landing on a blue color.

"Get clear!" She called out to both Yang and Roxas as she raised the weapon above her head. The two turned their attention towards her before their eyes widened. The two quickly dove out of the mass of Heartless that had begun to focus on them as Weiss drove her Rapier into the ground in front of her. A massive blue glyph sprawled forward, encompassing the entire space around them as well as the ground on which the remaining Heartless stood. They appeared confused at the strange appearance of glowing symbols but soon turned their attention back on the group, charging.

Before they could take a second step, however, Weiss snickered and twisted her rapier resulting in massive spikes of ice to erupt from the ground spearing and impaling the Heartless in an instant, freezing them in place as they struggled to understand what had stopped their charge; in moments, the mob of darkness evaporated into nothing.

"...Whoa..." Sora murmured with wide eyes as he stared out towards the trio.

"That was awesome!" Ruby squealed. "I wish I had my Crescent Rose! I totally woulda got in there!"

Sora shot Ruby a raised eyebrow as Yang and Roxas returned to the group behaving as if they hadn't just fought a massive mob of dangerous monsters.

"Well that was fun," Yang smirked as she collapsed her Shot Gauntlets.

"Good job." Roxas nodded.

"Wait a moment," Weiss said with wide eyes, "Is that the same thing that you have?" she said pointing towards Sora who was holding the Kingdom Key loosely with one hand.

"I- oh-" The boy raised the weapon. "This?"

"Yeah! Hey, he summoned it the same way you did!" Yang said with rising curiosity.

"You guys... know about the Keyblade?" It was only then that Sora's eyes grew big as he turned his attention towards Roxas. "Wait! You have one too?"

"Well.. actually." Roxas lifted his Oblivion and Oathkeeper with each hand.

Sora's jaw dropped. "Two? I didn't know someone could have _two_!"

Roxas grinned feeling slightly embarrassed, he too was looking over at his Somebody's keyblade. It was rather simple in its design, appearing almost identical to what he used when he'd just started at the Organization.

 _Makes sense... I am_ _ **his**_ _Nobody after all..._

Roxas frowned at this thought.

"That's incredible! Do you mind if I look?" Sora asked staring down at the two weapons.

"Uh-" Roxas hesitated at this, his mind feeling worried about handing over his Keyblade to his Somebody.

Sora's eyebrows furrowed as he noticed the hesitation. "Oh, you don't have to. Sorry, it's just that I haven't really seen a whole lot of-"

"No, no it's fine, you can look." Roxas forced a smile, forgoing his concern and raising Oblivion towards the boy. "You have every right to."

Weiss frowned at this comment but said nothing as Sora took the weapon in hand.

"Wow..." he commented staring at the weapon with wide eyes. "It looks so cool!" He turned his attention back towards the Kingdom Key. "I wonder why they look so different..."

"Beats me." Roxas smiled nervously, watching his Keyblade in the boy's hand.

Sora shrugged in a nonchalant manner and handing the weapon back. "Well either way. It's really cool that you have two, hope I can do that someday."

"Haha, maybe someday." Roxas confirmed as he gingerly took the Keyblade back. Sora absentmindedly dismissed his Kingdom Key in a flash of light. With a worried look Roxas stared down at his Oblivion in his hand before willing the weapon to disperse, and to his relief, it still obeyed his command.

With a sigh of relief, Roxas dismissed his Oathkeeper and turned, continuing his walk towards the clock tower.

 _At least I don't have to worry about losing my Keyblades to him._

He thought to himself as the group began to move forward.

"Hey, so I have some questions if you don't mind." Ruby chirped walking beside Sora.

"I can see if I have some answers I guess." He smiled scratching the back of his head.

"Roxas told me that he's traveled from world to world and that this is one of them, have you done that too?"

Sora grinned at this comment "So you know about the other worlds, huh?"

"Well, Roxas has told me some stuff." She smiled back.

As the group returned to their typical conversation with Yang and Goofy joking around and Ruby throwing a barrage of questions at Sora, Weiss studied the former Nobody walking quietly ahead of the group with a puzzled expression.

" _You can take a look at my wand again if you'd like,_ " Donald said extending his arm out to hand it back to her.

"Huh?" Weiss responded confused as she looked down at the duck.

" _I didn't mean to pull it away from you so suddenly. I just thought that I'd have to kick some Heartless butt! I didn't know you could fight like that!_ "

She smiled sheepishly but shook her head. "That's quite alright, I'm sure I'll get another time to investigate the workings of your wand. If you'll excuse me."

The girl hastened her step until she was walking beside Roxas who held his gaze forward with a somber frown on his face. He had spaced himself away from the group by over five feet now and it was difficult for Weiss to keep up with his pace.

"You doing okay?" She asked concerned. She watched as his expression changed to a forced smile.

"Just fine." He responded.

"You appeared uncomfortable about something back there. Are you sure?"

He seemed to pause, considering her question for a moment. His lips parted as he appeared to be deciding on his answer before he shook his head. "I'm good. Everything went to plan with only a minor hiccup. Sora has come back. My Somebody is back, and I'm still here, so there's nothing to worry about."

"Hm." Weiss frowned. "If you say so."

He nodded. "I'm good, really."

She merely sighed. "Alright, I won't pester you about it any further."

Weiss allowed the quiet soldier to take walk ahead yet again as she slowed until she was walking with the rest of the group. Her concerned gaze held on the boy before turning and studying Sora with peeled eyes. The boy was laughing as Yang told him a joke about Nora their classmate and a particularly large amount of pancakes. Weiss chewed on the inside of her cheek as thoughts and theories began to connect in her mind.

 _Sora…_

* * *

The group made their way to the base of the clock tower with little trouble, but as they arrived the familiar sound of Heartless appearing caused a pause. The group shot into action with Yang, Sora, Roxas, and Goofy quickly diving into the massive horde while Weiss and Donald held back providing support from the outside. Ruby frowned as she stood behind Donald and Weiss, unable to help without her Crescent Rose.

"You're left!" Roxas called out as his eyes caught a particularly sneaky Soldier that had rounded to Yang's side and was rearing its claw back for an attack. Quick to react, the girl performed a flip, narrowly avoiding the swipe at her calf and stomping atop the Heartless in her descent.

"Thanks!" She called out as she fired to rounds into the back of the creature's head before raising her Ember Celica and deflecting a leaping Heartless.

Roxas caught an unaware Shadow under its chin with an upward arching swipe that sent the creature flipping away before throwing his secondary keyblade and cleaving the Heartless in two. Summoning Oathkeeper back to him, he spun around just in time to block an oncoming claw from one of the braver Soldiers in the horde. The action pushed back the Heartless and presented Roxas ample to time to drive his Oblivion through the Soldier's skull.

Goofy was hardly paying attention to the Heartless around him as he began to rapidly spin with his signature yellow shield colliding with each Heartless that dared to get too close and quickly putting an end to the beasts.

Sora was in the process of dodge rolling out of the way of a small group that attempted to dog pile the young Keyblade wielder. Upon returning to his feet, the boy spun around with a roar, performing a horizontal strike that managed to cleave all three assailants in two, resulting in a massive cloud of smoke that quickly evaporated.

Within the minute the massive horde of Heartless had been reduced to just three, which were quickly taken out by the force of Weiss's dust as well as Donald's magic.

"Man fighting Heartless is easy when you've got a whole team assembled!" Sora exclaimed with his usual bright smile. He allowed his Kingdom Key to disappear in a flash of light before pulling hands behind his head casually. Roxas did the same with a grim expression before staring up at the clock tower before them

"This is the spot-"

"Hey, I have a… uh… strange question." Ruby suddenly chimed in stepping forward towards the two boys.

"Yeah?" Sora responded with earnest attention as Roxas gave her a silent eye raise.

"So you two are both um... what did you call it, Keyblade wielders? Is that right."

The two boys looked to one and other before turning their attention back to Ruby. "Yeah, seems that way."

"And Sora, you're Roxas's... Somebody... right?" She said with a frown.

Sora reflected her expression of confusion. "In all honesty... this is all just as new to me as it is to you. All I know is what you've told me. In fact-" he turned his eyes on Roxas, who was casting him a serious expression "I don't even know what a Nobody _is_."

The group all turned to Roxas at that point. The former Nobody realized that he had kept his answers vague when it came to himself and his true nature, out of everyone Yang and Weiss would have been the only two with the closest inclination of what a _Nobody_ truly was.

"How... am I tied to you, Roxas?" Sora asked with a puzzled expression. "Who are you to me? I wanted to ask earlier... but... I don't know at the time it didn't feel like I had the right to ask."

Roxas caught the look of uncertainty in the boy's eyes at that moment and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm...I was... well. I was created as a shell of you... I suppose." Roxas answered slowly, averting his gaze from the numerous eyes on him.

"A... shell?" Ruby repeated.

He merely nodded. "When a Heartless, I'm sure Sora has already told you what a Heartless is from you're guy's talk earlier?"

Ruby nodded "He told me their pieces of darkness like Grimm. He said that they take your heart..." She paused looking down and placing a hand on her chest. "And make you one of them in the process."

" _And they're_ _ **supposed**_ _to be all gone now!_ " Donald exclaimed with a humph. " _ **We**_ _were supposed to have taken care of the problem already!_ "

Sora nodded. "Something must be up. We'll have to find the King and figure this out." he turned back towards Roxas. "Sorry, continue."

Roxas nodded, taking note of what the boy had said. "Well, when they take your Heart, when the darkness consumes your Heart, if it was strong enough, then a husk is left behind." He paused frowning. "That's a Nobody."

"When Darkness consumes your Heart..." Sora mumbled to himself with a puzzled expression. If Darkness needed to consume your Heart in order to form a Nobody... then that would mean...

His eyes suddenly flashed open with realization. "Then you! I created you when I…!"

Roxas's eyes met Sora's with the same expression of stunned realization, the realization that he was about to find out just _how_ he'd been created, an answer he'd never thought he'd be able to find out.

"I made you..." Sora paused, slowly reaching up and gently touching the center of his chest, "when I... gave myself to the Darkness..."

"What!?" Yang, Weiss, and Ruby all announced with stunned expressions; Roxas merely stood there with wide eyes at a lost for words. Why would he ever _willingly_ do that to himself?

"I did it to save a friend!" Sora said with hand signals to 'calm down'. He turned back towards Roxas with a conflicted frown. "I was brought back from the Darkness soon after that, but I never knew that... what I had done could have, well, made you."

The group grew silent as the gravity of the revelation finally hit them.

"So wait," Ruby said with a frown. "You're saying that Roxas was created during the adventure that Goofy was telling us about?"

Sora nodded.

"So then..." she paused before turning to look towards Roxas who wouldn't meet her gaze. "Roxas... how old are you?"

His gaze slowly looked up to meet hers. "I've existed for a little over a year now." he said quietly, clearly uncomfortable about revealing that information. It said so much about him that he didn't want the others to know. It truly revealed about him what made him different. It showed that he didn't have a family that he grew up learning from, he didn't have a past childhood to reflect on. It revealed that he wasn't even technically a teenager like the rest of him. They had been able to experience the opportunities that molded them, whereas he simple became and had to adapt to the world around him. But most of all, it showed that he was just what Sora wasn't, a shadow of the boy in front of him.

"Hah, guess some people are _really_ early bloomers when it comes to puberty." Yang quipped with a laugh.

"Yang!" Ruby responded with a shocked tone swatting her sister's arm.

"What?" Yang said with confusion "It's not like this changes anything. Roxas is still Roxas. Just Cuz he's only like, technically a two year old doesn't mean that he's changed in any way."

Roxas's eyes brightened at this comment, it doesn't... change anything?

"I... suppose Yang is right." Weiss confirmed with a nod "Besides, clearly, Roxas is not a two year old." She said stepping up beside the boy who was roughly her equal in height.

"If I had to take a guess he's more like in his... hmm perhaps Sixteenth or Seventeenth year?" She turned to look over towards Sora "He was created from you so that would suggest that he would reflect your own age."

"Uh, I... guess." Sora responded with a shrug.

"And just how old are you?"

Sora smiled "I'm Fourteen."

Weiss frowned at this, appearing almost disappointed "I didn't know you were so... _young._ "

"Well Garsh," Chimed in Goofy scratching his chin "Didn't Roxas say that he's a year old now?"

Sora frowned looking towards his friend with furrowed brows "Yeah?"

"And weren't you fourteen when we first met you?" Goofy asked.

"I-..." Sora paused his eyes widening "I was!" his head swiveled back towards the where the mansion was "Was I in there for over a year!?"

"Garsh I don't know." Goofy frowned.

" _I feel like we're forgetting something..._ " Donald mumbled scratching the side of his head.

"So many questions..." Sora grumbled rubbing his forehead.

"So that would make Roxas..." Weiss said seemingly ignoring Sora's dilemma.

"Fifteen!" Ruby announced draping an arm around Roxas's shoulder "You and me are the same age! And I thought that _I_ was the only kid in the school!"

Weiss frowned at the display of affection "And yet somehow Roxas has still managed to appear more mature than you in every way."

Ruby pouted at this comment, crossing her arms as she looked away annoyed.

Roxas looked to the ground with a slowly growing smile. He'd never known how old he was _supposed_ to be, only how long he'd existed, which didn't feel right to him.

"Hey, here is an interesting question." Yang said with a raised eyebrow.

"What's that?" Sora responded.

"Well, our pal Roxas over here." As she said this she slapped a hand on his back "Is well... far stronger than any of us here, I was wondering... does he get that from you?"

Sora frowned at this raising an eyebrow "I... guess?"

"So what would happen if you two had at it?" Yang asked with a mischievous grin.

"I dunno."

"He'd win."

Both Sora's and Roxas's voices answered synonymously drawing attention to Roxas due to his response.

"Aw c'mon now don't sell yourself short!" Yang cheered "I can't have the guy who beat me give up like that."

"He's my somebody." Roxas said flatly, his gaze casting downward with a slight frown "Of course he's going to be stronger than me."

Weiss's eyes widened at this comment.

 _His distant nature since Sora's arrival, his discomfort from being around Sora..._

The girl smiled "I think that you two should settle things with a little spar."

"Huh?" the two responded in unison.

"Oh I bet that'll be sweet!" Yang commented taking a seat on the ground as if it had already been decided.

"Go Roxas!" Ruby cheered as she plopped down next to Yang with her legs tucked beneath her.

"There's no need to fight guys. I'm telling you there's no comparison." Roxas said with a nervous laughter since there couldn't be in his eyes. Sure he'd grown a heart, but over his time in the Organization he'd been told that a person's Somebody was everything that the Nobody wasn't, everything that a Nobody lacked.

And with all his shortcomings, Roxas definitely felt lacking.

"Well I mean..." Sora muttered rubbing the back of his neck "I don't know about that... you looked pretty impressive against those Heartless Roxas..."

The boy turned sharply looking at Sora with bewilderment, how could his Somebody be... _impressed_ by his former Nobody? As Roxas's Somebody that would make him indefinitely better in every way, or at least so Roxas figured.

"Ahyuck! I bet that Sora's gotten rusty too!" Goofy commented cheerfully.

"Hey!" Sora said looking towards his friend offended.

" _If you really have been asleep for that long Sora I'm sure that you're skill_ _ **would**_ _have gotten rusty._ "The duck took a step forward to pat Sora's side reassuring " _It's okay if you're not as good as you used to be. You're still pretty good I'm sure._ "

Sora growled frowning "I'm... I-" he sighed looking down before his shoulders began to shake. Raising his head revealed a bright smile and that the boy was laughing "Alright alright! Let's do this!" the keyblade wielder quickly summoned his Kingdom Key and took a stance that Roxas realized reflected his own stance whenever he would use just one Keyblade.

"But wait, I didn't agree to-"

"Oh come on big baby I wanna see a fight!" Yang blurted out in a teasing manner.

Roxas sighed rolling his eyes at the girl before meeting Sora's gaze. After several seconds of silence he released a light chuckled.

"Fine." He reluctantly accepted with a shrug "If only to prove my point..." he mumbled under his breath. A moment later both the Oblivion and Oathkeeper had sparked into existence. Roxas took a wide stance with each blade at each side ready to listen to his every command. Usually in a friendly spar Roxas would start with a single Keyblade to gauge how strong his opponent was. But fighting his very own _Somebody_... well there wasn't a doubt in Roxas's mind that even with two Keyblades he would still be at a disadvantage.

Sora grinned at his opponent "Don't take it easy on me pal! I'm coming at you with everything I got!"

Roxas felt a nervous sweat run down his cheek as he mentally prepared himself for what was to come. He wanted, no _needed_ to know where he was in comparison to his Somebody. He needed to know that he was still relevant, or if he'd inadvertently provided his own replacement by reviving Sora. His grip tightened as his mind formed the thought.

His instinct was telling him to attack, to push Sora onto the defensive as to give him the slight edge in the battle, blitz an opponent before they even have time to respond. He'd used this tactic before and properly ended battles before they'd even started.

 _No, that won't work here._

That tactic had only worked for him when the opponent hadn't had their full attention on the boy, with Sora staring him straight in the eyes, there was no way a blitz would work in Roxas's favor.

 _Since I'm dealing with a superior opponent it's likely that he'd be able to stop my attacks altogether and use my recklessness against me. I'd probably leave myself open from a misstep and the fight would be over with one decisive blow._

Roxas grimaced as he dismissed the idea, what did that leave him? If he couldn't get close and personal as was his typical style of battle, then what could he do?

 _I could rely on magic..._

Roxas shook his head at the thought. If his opponent was able to properly defend and punish a his all out blitz, then there wasn't a doubt in his mind that a Fira or Thundara would be easy matters to deal with. If nothing else the usage of magic would most likely only serve to elongate the battle, or worse, turn the fight into a casting duel, which Roxas suspected would leave him at a disadvantage since his Somebody would obviously have superior techniques to his own given it was Sora's power to begin with.

 _So... what can I do then?_

Roxas's mind drifted to the well of light untapped within his chest and for a moment he thought to bring out his trump card to start the fight. Maybe if he took his blitz idea to its utmost extreme and launched himself towards his opponent using his light abilities he might blindside Sora.

Roxas's gaze drifted towards his friends sitting only a short walk away, observing the fight with eager expressions.

 _No... that won't work either..._

He knew that using his light abilities in this battle was too risky to merit entertaining the idea. He'd only been able to effectively use the form a handful of times, and despite the fact that he'd learned to summon it to his aid whenever he needed it, it didn't mean he'd fully mastered what he could do in the form. If he wasn't careful, he could very well launch an attack that would endanger his friends due to his inexperience.

The boy mentally scolded himself for not having a better grasp on his own capabilities before retreating back to the depths of his mind to search for more options.

Just as he began to do so however, Sora sighed and shouted over "Are you going to attack any time soon? I'm getting bored over here!"

Roxas grimaced, realizing that his opponent was so confident in his abilities that he actually _wanted_ Roxas to attack first, which meant going on the offense wasn't an option.

"I-I thought I'd let you have to first strike!" Roxas called back trying to sound confident but knowing that he'd failed miserably. If his opponent was so confident that he knew that he could handle anything Roxas could dish out, then the only option Roxas could see was to go on the defensive and _pray_ that Sora made some sort of mistake from being over confident that lead to an opportunity for Roxas.

Sora shrugged in a casual manner "Alright then! Here I come!" before beginning his slow sprint towards Roxas.

Roxas couldn't hide his nervousness as his grip tightened even further around his two weapons.

Just as Sora closed the distance between them Roxas came to a final conclusion about this fight.

 _If nothing else, seeing how he fights will lead me to knowing how to fight him better. All I have to do is make sure I make it through this initial clash!_

Roxas felt his instincts take over his motor functions as he reacted to a strike meant for his ribcage in an instant. In fact he'd reacted so quickly that he'd positioned his Oathkeeper in front of Sora's Keyblade before it had even gotten halfway through it's arch. The two Keyblades clanged as they met and Sora's weapon bounced back harmlessly.

Not one to be discouraged, Sora immediately spun around, whipping the keyblade towards the side of Roxas's head this time. Once again Roxas was able to easily raise his Oblivion in time to stop the attack in its tracks. In fact, he had _more_ than enough time to do so, leaving Roxas with the fear in his mind that perhaps Sora was pulling a feint, choreographing an obvious attack only to switch gears at the last moment. This lead Roxas to leap back in fear before Sora's attack could even connect, but to his surprise, no feint came. Sora's strike proved to be honest, and it passed through the space where his head had just been harmlessly.

Roxas titled his head in confusion at this.

Sora merely laughed "Fast aren't you?" he claimed before his legs pushed him into the air as he raised the Kingdom Key above his head.

Roxas watched as the boy came flying towards him with the Keyblade above his head, and tried to figure out just what Sora had to be planning to dedicate himself to such a reckless attack. Taking to the air provided additional power on impact sure, but it also left you wide open during the time that you're in the air due to the fact that you are incapable of movement and by extension _dodging_ during all that time. Unless you are attacking an opponent that is unaware or not paying attention to you, the negatives far outweighed the positives of such an aerial based technique.

Roxas realized that he couldn't figure out just what the boy planned to do and decided that the only option he had to follow was to continue to be on the defensive. If he guessed wrong about Sora's intentions and opted to attack the boy, it may cost him dearly as it would waste precious seconds to react if he were wrong.

Roxas raised his Keyblades into an X as he awaited Sora's descent, gritting his teeth as he positioned his feet under him to better absorb the impact of Sora's undoubtedly powerful strike. If another tactic _didn't_ rear its head from Sora's recklessness, then at the very least this move was meant to rattle Roxas.

 _I need to make sure that I am not stunned when I block this and leave myself open for him to continue his pressure._

As the Kingdom Key came inches away from Roxas's two weapons the former Nobody couldn't help but grimace as he shut his eyes awaiting for his arms to crumple and his legs to give out.

But instead, his arms barely budged, he could barely feel the impact of Sora's strike. Roxas reopened his eyes to see that Sora was _seemingly_ pushing _all_ of his weight and then some against the Oblivion and Oathkeeper, gritting his teeth as he attempted to shove the Kingdom Key further down after being halted in his tracks.

 _What is happening?!_

Roxas desperately asked himself as he tried to reach a conclusion about _why_ Sora was fighting so poorly. His attacks were sluggish, easy to read and even when he was _seemingly_ trying to hit with his all it barely forced a budge out of Roxas.

The former Nobody studied Sora's expression looking desperately for some sort of explanation, was he sick? Was he injured? Why was he fighting like this?

Roxas's eyes widened as he watched a slight grin begin to form from Sora's gritted teeth, his lips curling up ever so slightly in a subtle yet obvious fashion to someone so close.

 _Is he..._ _ **PLAYING**_ _with me?_

Roxas thought with building rage. His lips curled into a snarl as he gazed daggers into the boy in front of him. After all this time, after all the people who'd told him that he was a Nobody, that wasn't enough, that he was meant to be more, to be somebody else, to be a **somebody** , he'd never suspected that **HIS** Somebody wouldn't have the **DECENCY** to take him **SERIOUSLY.**

Roxas released a roar as he tightened the X formed by his Oathkeeper and Oblivion around the Kingdom Key before pulling his arms upward, violently ripping the weapon away from Sora. The action spawned a 'Whoa!' from the boy who stumbled towards Roxas having lost his footing. Roxas responded to this by ramming his shoulder into Sora's chest resulting in the boy falling back.

"Why aren't you taking this seriously!" Roxas roared standing over the boy furiously looking down on him. He expected to see a sneering, confident face looking back at him with an 'okay okay you got me'.

But that's not the expression he was seeing from Sora.

Instead, on the ground in front of Roxas was a boy with an expression of fear and nervousness, wide pools of frightened blue eyes staring back at him paired with a deep frown of shame.

"I...I..." Sora looked down averting his gaze "I... _was_ taking this seriously..." he murmured so quietly only Roxas could hear it.

Suddenly, all of Roxas's rage and frustration dissipated leaving only one lasting emotion.

Confusion.

 _How could_ _ **that**_ _have been him..._ _ **trying**_ _?_

Sora released a nervous laughter as he picked himself up, looking ashamed as his gaze never left the ground "Guess I wasn't as much of a challenge as I thought I would be huh?"

"I-I..." Roxas stammered "I don't understand. You're my _Somebody_ you're supposed to be _stronger_ than me."

"I guess not huh?" Sora responded still not meeting the blonde's gaze. Rubbing his neck in an embarrassed fashion before reaching out towards the Kingdom Key laying on the tiles several feet away. In a flash of light the weapon was back in his hands leaving the boy to stared down at the Keyblade with an expression of... was that regret?

Suddenly Donald and Goofy were at Sora's side with Donald casting a sudden 'Cure!' resulting in a green symbol to hover over his head without much effect.

" _Are you okay Sora? What happened?!"_ Donald asked concerned.

"Garsh Sora you feeling alright!?" Goofy asked with the same tone as Donald.

"Haha I'm fine guys." Sora responded forcing a smile "I'm perfectly fine honest, the only thing damaged on me is maybe my pride I guess." he said letting out a reluctant laugh at his own joke.

"I-I..." Roxas couldn't find the words. None of this made any sense to him as he stared down at his own two keyblades and then back at Sora. With his mouth agape the only response Roxas could muster was one of bewilderment at the result of the fight. It'd been over so fast, and he'd won so _easily_. It hadn't even been a contest, Sora was nowhere _near_ his level, it was possible that yang or Weiss would be perfectly capable of handling the boy from what Roxas had seen from the fight.

 _How is this possible!?_

All his life he'd been told that his Somebody was someone better, someone stronger and superior in every way. Somebodies are better than Nobodies, that was the core concept that was the backbone for why the members of the Organization pushed so hard to return themselves to who they were before.

Now that he'd discovered that this rule wasn't true... what did that mean?

Roxas was brought out of his thoughts as Weiss, Ruby and Yang walked over to him.

"Well that wasn't much of a fight..." Yang commented with disappointed frown.

"That was incredible! Though I don't know why you got so angry towards the end there." Ruby commented with a frown.

"Yes I noticed that too." Weiss noted with a raised eyebrow "Were you expecting... more?" she said casting a knowing look.

 _Does she...did she know? Did she know what I was expecting?_

Roxas studied her expression with furrowed eyebrows, meeting her gaze as her lips peeled into a slight grin.

"You should put more faith in yourself." She suddenly commented with a growing smile "You're a lot more impressive than you know."

Roxas smiled at the compliment, pushing away his questions about Sora for now "Thanks."

"Uh," Ruby said looking over towards Sora's group "Maybe you should go over and say something to him? Sora's looking pretty down."

Roxas nodded in response stepping past of his ring of friends and towards his former Somebody. As his strides carried him closer his memory pulled forward an explanation for _why_ Sora had been fighting so poorly.

"It looks like you did get a little rusty huh?" Roxas commented extending a hand for a handshake.

Sora paused looking down at the gloved hand pushed towards him. He chuckled before taking the hand with a shrugged "I guess, but even if I were back at one hundred percent... I don't know if I'd be a match for you..."

Roxas froze in his handshake at this comment.

 _Even if he were at top form... I'm stronger than he was at top form? How can that be possible?_

"uhhh," Sora responded with furrowed eyebrows "You okay there?"

This brought Roxas out of his stupor "Yeah yeah, I'm fine Sorry." He release the boy's hand "Just... considering some things is all."

"Alright, that's okay..." Sora said studying Roxas with a perplexed expression.

Suddenly, light footsteps could be heard approaching causing Roxas to turn his head.

He could see a small dark figure, roughly Donald's size holding a...

 _Is that a_ _ **Keyblade!?**_

Roxas thought in amazement just as another noise stole his attention away. Spawning around them was a large circle of _Dusks_ twisting and writhing.

"What are... are these Heartless?" Sora asked concerned as he readied his Kingdom Key.

"Nobodies!" Weiss responded recognizing their pale white complexions and unique crossed symbols printed atop their heads.

"Heh! Don't worry! I got-" Yang began before Suddenly the dark figure wearing what Roxas recognized as an _organization coat_ appeared in the air just above the Dusks. Suddenly, in a flurry of gold and silver, the Dusks were gone.

Roxas sneered as he recognized the coat, the figure had its back turned to them, wielding a Keyblade that resembled the Kingdom Key except for it's color scheme being swapped.

Roxas readied his weapons "Who are you and what do you-" before he could finish his sentence he felt a small group pile on top of him, crumpling him to the ground.

Above him he could hear both Donald's and Goofy's voices stammer out "Your majesty?!"

Roxas peeked upward and saw the figure with large orb like appendages sticking out of his head bring a finger to his lips "Shh! There's no time! You three need to board the train and leave town! The train knows the way!" before anyone could respond the small figure produced a small yet plump peach colored bag which he offered out to Sora while still concealing his face.

"Here!" He said gesturing for Sora to take the bag, Sora did so, staring down it the item wondering about its contents.

"Get...off of... me!" Roxas grunted as he pushed himself up and sent Sora, Donald and Goofy rolling on the ground.

Before any of the group could get back to their feet the figure had already taken off, darting towards the road leading down into the town.

"Wait!" Roxas shouted confused as to what exactly was going on.

To his surprise, the figure halted, pausing seemingly with thought.

"Roxas." Said the high pitched voice "I can't tell you what to do. All I know is...you're friends shouldn't be forced into this fight, but you, you're different."

Roxas tried to find the right words to respond with, tried to find the urge to ask questions as to how the figure seemingly knew him and why he was wearing the Organization coat, but instead he continued to listen.

"You are a wielder of the Keyblade just as Sora is. After you return your friends to the world they belong to, you may join Sora in his journey if you so choose."

Roxas reached out a hand as he realized that the figure had finished his sentence "But wait! I still have questions!" This time however the figure did not halt as he continued down the road and out of sight.

" _Your majesty!_ " Called out Donald as he rose to his feet and started to chase after the figure before slowing to a stop.

"The king... Was that really him?" Sora asked as he too got to his feet.

"It coulda been...yep! I know it was!" Goofy confirmed with enthusiasm.

" _Now we know he's okay!_ " Donald said with the same enthusiasm.

"Wait... so." Sora began to mumble deep in thought "The King was trapped in the realm of darkness... right?"

"Uh huh!"

"But we just saw him!"

" _Yup!_ "

"And if the King is here... that means Riku's here too!"

"Wait, wait, wait," Weiss began looking confused once more "Just who was that and why did he give you a bag of... money?" she guessed based on the jingle of the bag.

"He was the king of the Kingdom!" Goofy announced "Our kingdom! From where me and Donald come from!"

"Okay..." Weiss nodded confirming that she understood that "So... why did he just spring down without introducing himself like that! Give us a cryptic message and then dart away just as fast?"

"I... don't know about that..." Sora admitted scratching the back of his head "But I do know now what I'm planning to do!" turning to Donald and Goofy the teen said "I'm gonna go look for Riku...Then we can go back to the islands together, Kairi's there waiting for us!...so what are you two going to do?"

Goofy looking rather put off responded with a less than happy tone "Garsh Sora... did you even have to ask?"

Sora burst out laughing at this.

" _Hey! What's so funny!?_ " shouted the temperamental duck.

"Your faces!" Sora laughed out pointing.

The two faced one and other before bursting out in laughter as well from the annoyed looks they were baring.

"What do you say guys? Let's stick together for one more journey!" Sora cheered with a smile.

Goofy and Donald both nodded.

"...To... where again?" Sora said with a sheepish grin.

"We hafta board the train!" Goofy answered motioning to the clock tower to their right. The tower doubled as a train station at its base.

"Oh yeah!" Sora made a start towards the clock tower before pausing and looking back towards Roxas, who was standing with the rest of the group wearing the same confused face.

"Oh, Sorry." The boy apologized rubbing the back of his neck "I kinda got wrapped up in everything there."

"It's... no problem." Roxas responded still rolling around the name 'Riku' in his head. He knew the name for some reason but he couldn't exactly recall why.

" _The king offered for Roxas too join us!_ " Donald repeated to the overly excited Sora.

"Oh, Right." Sora nodded before looking back to Roxas "So? Do you wanna come?"

"I..." Roxas responded with a frown. So much had happened so quickly and he was just trying to process it.

He turned back towards Yang, Weiss and Ruby who all bore expressions of worry. They'd over heard the King as well saying that they should not be involved in this conflict, which meant...

 _If I leave with Sora, if I dive deeper into what's going on... then I have to leave my friends..._

Sora's head whipped back towards the sounds of a train getting prepared to take off "C'mon we don't have much time!" he urged.

Roxas smiled as he continued to meet the eyes of each of his friends, reassuring them and producing a soft sigh from Ruby.

"You guys go on without me." Roxas encouraged looking back at the odd group.

"Garsh you sure? With how well you fight I'm sure that we could use you!" Goofy said.

"I'm sure. Besides, it sounds to me that we have the same goals." Roxas smiled resulting in Sora , Donald and Goofy tilting their heads not understanding.

Roxas laughed at this before explaining "You all are trying to find your friends, while I'm just trying to keep mine." he said motioning to the three girls standing behind him.

Sora smiled at this "Well then, I guess this is goodbye huh?"

"Maybe," Ruby suddenly chimed in "But 'goodbye' feels too permanent... how about..." she tapped her chin a couple times "How about we just say 'until next time' instead huh? I'm sure we'll all meet again!"

Sora nodded at this "Sounds good! Until next time!" he said waving as he, Donald and Goofy all ran to catch the train that was soon departing.

Just as Sora had opened the glass door into the train station Roxas realized _where_ he remembered the name 'Riku' from.

 _The boy with the silver hair, the one who I fought and turned into..._

"Wait!" Roxas called out running up to the doors after Sora. The boy who was just about to shut the glass door behind him paused, turning back towards Roxas with a raised eyebrow.

"What's wrong? Did you decide to come along?"

Roxas smiled, shaking his head "No I'm still staying, but I remembered something that I thought you might want to know."

Sora frowned looked back over his shoulder towards where his friends were boarding"I don't really have time Roxas I think the engine to the train has just-"

"It's about Riku." Roxas responded seriously.

At this Sora's attitude immediately shifted, turning back to Roxas with an expression of shock "What is it?"

"I think that... the one _we_ know as Ansem," he said gesturing to himself and his friends behind him "Maybe isn't the same man as your old enemy."

Sora appeared perplexed at this statement "What? What do you mean?"

"I-" Roxas paused, not sure how to explain "I fought a Riku once. He knew who I was too. And then he turned into the man you know as Ansem."

Sora's eyes widened large at this revelation.

"Just... the next time you see Ansem, don't jump to any conclusions... okay?" Roxas asked with a reassuring smile.

Sora nodded, face still frozen in its stunned expression.

" _C'mon Sora! The train's about to go!_ "Shouted Donald as the engine to their transport roared to life.

"Coming!" Sora hollered back before meeting Roxas's gaze once more "Thank you Roxas. A lot happened, and I wish we had more time to figure out what it all means..."he frowned, appearing conflicted.

"We'll meet again." Roxas smiled "I know we will. And then, we can figure all of this out, together."

Sora smiled at this with a nod before turning and dashing towards the train as fast as his legs could carry him. Roxas watched as the train pulled out if the station, the tracks leading Donald, Goofy, and Sora away towards their own adventure.

And Roxas turned back to his friends to continue his.

After descending the steps from the station his friends immediately rushed him, huddling around them as they asked him their questions.

"What was that about?"

"What did you have to tell him?"

"You made me think you had decided to join them at the last minute you jerk!"

Roxas chuckled at their worry "I just remembered something about the friend Sora was looking for is all. I met him before, so I thought he'd like to know."

"Oh..." Ruby nodded "Well that was nice of you."

He smiled at her as a silent ' _thanks'._

"Do you think you made the right choice?" Weiss asked with crossed arms.

When Roxas turned to look at her she turned away looking out to the setting sun "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well... it felt like he was more connected to all of these bizarre events, to all the strangeness surrounding your life than any of us are." she said motion towards Yang and Ruby "I just felt that perhaps... regardless of how it would have made me-er-us feel, that it may have been a mistake for you to refuse his offer." she said with a deep frown.

"hmmm," Roxas pretended to think while still smiling "Nope!"

Weiss's eyes suddenly shot back to him "What?"

"I said 'nope', it wasn't a mistake."

Weiss growled "Well I gathered that much but what I was expecting was more along the lines of an explanation."

"Well," he began with a coy grin "The king mentioned that I wouldn't be able to bring you guys along."

Yang looked between Ruby and Weiss "Would the plural to guys for girls be gals?"

Ruby rolled her eyes grinning slightly at the comment "Shh sis! Roxas is saying something serious!"

"And also no I believe that 'guys' is a gender neutral term." Weiss confirmed before addressing Roxas again "Please continue with your explanation. We all heard what the... king? said..." Weiss paused furrowing her brow with crossed arms "Just what was that guy? I was going to call him man, but no one that small could possibly be a human..." realizing that she was rambling she shook her head waving it off "Sorry, please continue."

Roxas, who was trying to not laugh at the exchange, continued "Well I don't want to leave you guys behind. Besides, it's not like we can't get around ourselves." he said as he raised a hand and summoned a Dark Corridor.

"So what you're saying is..." Ruby began.

He nodded "If we do anything, we do it together. I already promised earlier that I wasn't going to be leaving you guys."

Ruby smiled "You did promise that you were coming back!"

He nodded "I did."

Yang slung an arm over Roxas's shoulder "So it looks like we're stuck with you huh?"

Roxas laughed "I hope that's okay."

Yang gave an over exaggerated sigh before smiling "Yeah I guess so. You do tend to make things pretty... interesting to say the least."

"Hmm." Weiss said placing a finger to her lips in thought. After a short time she looked up and met Roxas's eyes "So you still intend to pursue the answers to the questions that arose from DiZ and Ansem as well as deal with the 'Organization' as we've come to know it."

He nodded.

"but you simply intend to do so with us instead of them?"

He nodded again "Good way to sum things up I think."

Weiss smiled "I think I can accept that answer."

"Of course you can," Yang rolled her eyes "You answered it yourself."

` "Hey!"

"Sooooo," Ruby began before Weiss could go off on yang "What should we do now?"

"Well..." Roxas began lighting up with a grin"If I remember correctly, Weiss said that we should all go out for popsicles again once we were all done."

Ruby smiled brightly at this "Ice cream?"

Roxas returned the smile "Ice cream."

* * *

 _ **AN:**_ _Yet another chapter that I didn't intend to go long but stretched to twice my normal chapter length. I suppose this has truly become my habit. Well it has been a little while since my last update so perhaps the length can be my apology for how long it's been. In all honesty the reason this chapter took so long to complete was a lack of confidence in myself and how the first half of the chapter began. Special thanks to SomeRandomReview, warrior of six blades, and nexus4123 for reading over the first half of the chapter and giving me the confidence I needed to continue and quickly finish the rest of it. This chapter was a difficult one due to how I wanted to present Sora as a character. Personally I've found him to be rather dim witted and gullible, I have said many times that I don't find his character very... great, but I knew that there were amany Sora fans within the audience so I wanted to do him justice and not present him as an absolute moron as that would simply be my own bias. What more, the conditions for which Roxas and Sora have met are rather... odd, so on top of writing a character I have never wrote nor know very well, I had to write him in a scenario that was super awkward and confusion for him and still make it somewhat believable. I believe this is the reason things took so long really._

 _Anyhow, the Sora Vs Roxas fight was something I've been wanting to do for quite some time, and knew this chapter was the last chance (for a little while) that I would have the opportunity to do so, so if the fight felt shoehorned in then, well sorry, I tried lol._

 _Now as for the fight the outcome should be obvious in why it was the way it was but for those of you who didn't like that section I shall take a moment to justify my decisions. There is no way level 1 Sora would be a challenge for Roxas at where he is now in strength. Enough said. Roxas is leagues above Sora right now and I wanted to exemplify this fact in this fight. However, this fight was specifically designed for another scene between the two coming up, so look forward to that!_

 _And also, It is my pleasure to present the very first skit chapter (or Omake chapter so I'm told!Which means its all jokes and more or less non-canon to the story) Now if this goes well and you all enjoy it I'll see if I can make more of these in the future! Or I'll just find out that I'm not very funny! :(_

 _Either way! Please tell me what you think! I look forward for this chapter's reviews for both the main chapter as well as the bonus one!_

"Alright! So it do you know why I brought you here?" Asked Weiss with her hands on her hips.

"Not exactly!" Responded Ruby with the same cheery demeanor.

The two were currently within Weiss's private room with many cooking materials strewn out behind the girl atop a long wooden table.

"Well! I need to discover just what the formula is to recreate the 'sea salt ice cream' treat that Roxas presented to us the other day."

"Right!" Ruby nodded eagerly.

"And in order to do so effectively I need someone who is capable of taste testing multiple batches until the formula is perfected, do you understand where you come in now?"

Ruby smiled brightly nodding vigorously "You need someone to spoon feed you the samples since your hands will be dirty from cooking!"

"No you..." Weiss sighed pinching the bridge of her nose "No I wanted you to be my taste tester Ruby."

"Oh!" Ruby exclaimed, sparkles beginning to form in her eyes "That's even better!"

Weiss rolled her eyes before stepping over to a mini fridge off to the side of the room. Opening it, she pulled out a single Popsicle, square-like, and colored with the signature sky blue of the ice cream in question.

"Now here is the last one I have of the original treat. I need you to-" As she said this the girl in front of her inhaled deeply with such a force that a miniature cyclone formed tearing the frozen treat from Weiss's hands.

The entire Popsicle landed on Ruby's tongue and she bit down, crunching down on the ice shaving with delight before pulling the stick out of her mouth moments later.

"Tasty!" she exclaimed having swallowed.

"-Savor it slowly and note everything you...can..." Weiss finished with a shocked expression.

"Oh." Ruby smiled sheepishly "Sorry."

Weiss released another sigh placing a hand on her forehead as she murmured "Dear god I did this to myself."

"What was that?"

"Lets get started!" Cheered the Schnee teen.

After a very short amount of time Ruby was holding yet another popsicle appearing almost identical to the one she'd consumed earlier.

After one bite she froze and scrunched up her face "Well it's definitely got the 'Salt' part of the name down. Too much salt!"

Weiss nodded with a smile before setting to work once again. The next batch came sooner than the last and was quickly placed into the girl's hand.

Ruby bit down quickly and began to munch on the delightful treat "Hmmm, well now I cant taste the salt at all! The sugar is overpowering the rest of the flavor!" She said before flinging the remainder of the ice cream to the ground.

"You do realize this is carpet right?" Weiss responded annoyed.

Ruby promptly picked the treat back up.

Batch three came.

"Too much food coloring! My teeth are blue!" she shouted as her fangs looked like they'd just taken a bite out of papa smurf.

Batch four.

"This tastes perfect!" she said before looking at the Popsicle again "But it's purple! Disgusting!"

Batch five.

"Why do I taste cheese!?" Ruby said with furrowed brows.

"Uhhhhh." Weiss murmured brushing a box of shredded cheddar into the trash "I dunno."

Batch six.

"Too much egg shell!"

Batch seven.

"Too much chicken wing!"

"Yeah I didn't think that would work either."

Batch Eight.

"Why do I only taste wood?"

"Because you bit down on the wrong end." Weiss said shaking her head.

Ruby looked down to see her hand soaking wet with ice shavings "Hmmm... surprisingly not that bad!"

.

.

.

 _The following day_

"Batch _~yaaaaawn~_ batch 1313..." Weiss mumbled as she produced yet another Popsicle that appeared nearly identical to the previous 400 batches.

Ruby's eyes were half shut as she peered over towards the frozen treat. Her mouth and lips were completely smeared with ice cream and she was convinced that her tongue would be permanently sky blue for the remainder of her days. She tried to lean forward to take the ice cream but her now permanently round body shape wouldn't permit the action. The basketball shaped girl rolled slightly over as Weiss compensated and leaned forward to place the sea salt replica in Ruby's hand.

Ruby smiled faintly before attempting to bring her arm up to her lips but once again her round demeanor provided little movement for the young woman.

"W-Weiss, could you maybe?"

"Oh, sure." The girl said sleepily as she took back the popsicle before placing it in Ruby's open mouth. Ruby chewed softly, savoring the bite as she did so. Her eyes widened as they began to well up with tears.

"Perfect..." she muttered before closing her eyes and allowing the remaining Popsicle stick to fall to the ground.

Soft Snores could be heard from the girl as Weiss's shoulders began to lightly quiver. Soon this transitioned into a noise, snickering, until the girl could no longer hold it in.

" **Muhahahahaha**!" She bellowed maliciously "My plan was an absolute success! I've discovered the secret to Sea Salt ice cream and through the process fattened my only competition to Roxas's heart to the point that he would never choose her! Victory is mine!"

The door to the dorm suddenly swung open revealing a perplexed looking Yang as she stepped into the dorm.

"Hey I heard that my little sis stayed over night here for some reason is everything o-" The blonde paused as she looked down and saw Ruby's rolly polly form snoozing on the ground.

A sigh escaped Yang's lips as she pinched the bridge of her nose "So is this like, a normal sleep or coma sleep because I don't think we have another elixir for her."

"I, uh," Weiss stammered looking over to Ruby with a frown "Honestly... I don't know... after all that ice cream I can imagine it being a coma."

Yang rolled her eyes before turning back into the hallway "I'll go get Roxas again."

Weiss smiled.

"Yay."

* * *

 **** ** _Thank you all for the support and I hope you enjoyed!_** **  
**

**_Until next time!_**


	27. Chapter 27:A Nobody's Twin

Blake frowned as she studied the two story warehouse from outside of the quickly gathering crowd. Police tape had formed a barrier surrounding the perimeter of the building with cop cars parked just outside, sirens flashing.

The girl maneuvered herself through the crowd, careful not to come in contact with any of the others before she eventually found herself just behind the yellow police tape. She could hear the crowd behind her speaking in murmurs between each other, speculating what had happened.

"Another Dust robbery-"

"Just like the others, no break in at all-"

"It's like the stuff just up and disappeared-"

Blake didn't acknowledge the conversations going on behind her, instead choosing to focus on the two cops speaking to who she believed to be the owner of the warehouse. The woman was frantic as she waved her hands widely, trying to gesture to the cops her message as she spoke. Blake scowled as the noise from the crowd was making it impossible to make out what the woman was saying. Her eyes narrowed as she got a clear view of the woman's mouth,

" _I have state of the art security... nothing was tripped!...I have cameras all around the outside of the property... there was nothing all night!"_

Blake blinked away the tension in her eyes as she looked away, no longer focused on the woman as she again weaved her way through the crowd. She circled the warehouse which was a considerable size to say the least, probably nearing the size of a stadium if she had to gauge an estimate. Picking out the cameras attached to the building's exterior she could tell that the owner wasn't kidding, the cameras were well placed. To the common criminal it would appear that there wasn't a single blind spot, taking several steps back the girl could even tell that some cameras had been placed atop the roof just to be thorough.

 _Makes sense... the Schnee company wants to protect their product with the utmost security._

Yes, to a _common_ criminal it would be near impossible to find the camera's blind spots, but Blake wasn't some common criminal. Her eyes peeled as she studied the camera placement further before eventually taking note of the few areas that did serve as blind spots, areas where a person could just _barely_ fit and still not be seen. The only problem was, that these areas were inconsequential. Every spot that she could make out was a brick or steel wall, nowhere near any potential entry point like a window or door. This didn't stop the girl from pausing at each location to study the wall and see if any tampering had occurred. However, this only left Blake more discouraged as she could find little wrong with the walls, or at least not from behind the police tape.

Despite the knowledge that nothing had appeared on the surveillance cameras, Blake still took the time to examine each of the upper floor windows to see if _anything_ appeared even **slightly** off, but as far as she could tell, nothing was broken or damaged in any way, hell some of the windows still bore dust across their planes.

Blake frowned as she could see lasers paralleling the length of the windows in a checkerboard pattern, meant to trigger the security system if anyone entered the structure without entering the proper authorization codes. The security system was still on, telling her that obvious it hadn't been tripped which would have sent both the police as well as the Atlas specialty

Sighing, the girl walked away from the crime scene, disappointed that yet again she hadn't been able to find anything of substance towards these robberies. This had been the fifth one she'd been able to investigate with the only conclusion being that she had no reasonable explanation as to how they were being entered.

The Dust robberies had become an epidemic across the kingdom of Vale at this point, with shops spanning all the way from the agricultural district to the upper class being hit, with each robbery being attributed to the White Fang. This was what got Blake's attention, that the White Fang had become more of a thieving crew than a revolutionary radical group.

Blake scowled at the thought. The White Fang were not incompetent by any means, and while it had been taking a new, more aggressive path towards equality, Blake couldn't imagine that they had this capable of thieves in their leagues.

The only conclusion that Blake could come to was that whoever was responsible for these robberies was an absolute master of stealth, precision, and the art of thievery.

* * *

Demyx stumbled as he accepted the hotdog, toppling over on top of the food cart and smearing condiments across his shirt as the food vender began shouting at him.

"Ah, shoot." He murmured looked down at his now properly soiled white long sleeve.

Emerald immediately began laughing, holding a hand to her mouth as she did her best to hold back tears.

"Come on man now I can't sell any of those!" Complained the hotdog vender as he motioned to the hotdogs which had been thrown to the ground as a result of the collision.

"Ah, Sorry about that, didn't see the wheel there..." Demyx said with a sheepish smile as he pointed to the cart's tires.

"No wonder Cinder said we had to watch over you..." Mercury sighed pinching the bridge of his nose.

"You two have been told to watch me? I thought we were just hanging out!" Demyx said with a disappointed tone.

"We are! We are!" Emerald said with a convincing smile before shooting Mercury a dirty look "Come on, let's go get you a new shirt, I doubt you want to walk around with ketchup on your shoulder all day."

Demyx turned and faced the condiment, staring down at the lump with a raised eyebrow. After a moment of hesitation, he tentatively lowered his mouth and scooped up a small portion of ketchup onto his tongue.

"Ewww!" Emerald laughed at the act.

Smacking his lips with a serious face Demyx said "Not so bad really, maybe someone should come up with the idea of a 'food shirts', snacks you can wear."

"Yeah, I'm sure _those_ would sell." Mercury said sarcastically as he crossed his arms.

"Well... I mean I could do with some chocolate every now and then." Emerald admitted giving the idea some thought.

Mercury rolled his eyes before they peeled. Pointing he said "Looks like there's a clothes shop just down there, we can get something for ' ' over there I'm guessing."

Demyx turned and saw the shop before smiling "That's good before honestly it's starting to feel pretty sticky now and I could do without that."

"How about you go on ahead of us Demyx? We're gonna pay the vender real quick and catch up in a sec, k?" She said with a cute smile.

Demyx smiled back, nodding as he walked off towards the store.

"And try not to break anything on your way there!" Mercury hollered after the Nobody before flinching as Emerald swatted him.

"Why did you tell him that!?" She whispered in harsh tone.

"What?" Mercury shrugged "It's the truth isn't it? We're supposed to babysit him to make sure he doesn't try and run off the moment he's alone."

"Yes but did you not recall the specific order that we were supposed to make _friends_ with him!?" She said scolding the man despite standing two inches shorter.

"Oh come on lighten up Emerald, I'm sure that he's too dense to realize that what I said was the truth. Besides," He grumbled looking away from the girl with arms crossed.

"I don't really see the point of us having to make friends with him. It's not like we're friends with Roman or any of the other members of the White Fang."

Emerald released an annoyed sigh "You know exactly why Mercury. When you have a member so valuable that you very operation depends on his cooperation, it'd probably be a wise idea to keep a leash on that person."

"Well why doesn't Cinder just scare the guy like she normally does? I mean it looked like it was pretty effective on Torchwick and Adam..."

Emerald rolled her eyes at the comment "I swear you have the insight of a goldfish, the _obvious_ reason is that-"

"EXCUSE ME!" Shouted the still livid hotdog vender "Are you two planning to pay me any time soon or what?!"

Emerald turned towards the man with a distinct scowl formed on her lips. Her facial expression read 'I will break your legs just for the snapping sounds they make' before flashing a bright and cheerful smile.

"Sorry about that!" She said appearing cuter than usual as she reached into a pocket and retrieved a large amount of Lien from her pocket "Will this cover the costs?" she asked handing the money to the eager vender.

"Oh! Yes, yes! This will be more than enough! Thank you!" He said with a quickly forming smile staring at the cash in his hands.

"Thanks for being so understanding of our friend. Now if you don't mind, we should really catch up with him before he, well," She motioned to the mess of hotdogs filling the street "Gets into any more messes."

The man smiled and nodded, indicating that they were free to go. As they walked away, Mercury leaned over and whispered "Where'd you get the dough? I know Cinder didn't give you that much spending money for this guy."

Emerald revealed a devious smirk "Snatched it from the guy when Demyx fell over the cart. He left the register open and I thought I might take a peak." she said as she lifted her hand holding an even larger wad of Lien between her index and middle finger.

"Niiice." Mercury grinned with a nod of his head.

Demyx suddenly popped his head out of the entrance of the store wearing a long sleeve black turtleneck with a kitten on its front.

"What do you guys think?" He asked with an excited grin.

Mercury frowned at the shirt "Kinda girly don't ya-"

"I think it's perfect!" Emerald said clapping her hands together with a convincing expression of excitement. Mercury looked down at the girl beside him and caught a swift, almost invisible look of anger that read ' go along with it or I'll rip out your tongue'.

Mercury rolled his eyes before feigning a smile and saying "Yeah actually now that I'm taking a better look at it it really fits you."

"Really?" Demyx responded looking down at the shirt with a raised eyebrow "I was gonna say that I thought it was a little feminine, but if you guys like it! I think I'll get it!"

Mercury released a quiet groan as he let his head fall back in annoyance.

"I think you should! Here take this and go back in to pay, I think I see an angry shopkeeper walking towards us right now." Emerald said taking Demyx's hand and placing the wad of cash into it and pointing through the window at an annoyed looking employee storming towards the entrance.

"Oh! Right!" Demyx stammered as he quickly re-entered the establishment.

"This is painful." Mercury finally said once the door shut behind the Nobody.

Emerald had let the smile fade from her lips as she rubbed her forehead "Yeah I know, my cheeks hurt from all the fake smiling I'm having to do."

"You never did tell me why we can't just have Cinder intimidate the guy like she does with literally everyone else." the gray themed young man said looking back down towards the girl.

Emerald was visibly frowning now, her eyes appearing half closed as she looked back up at him "Well, it's hard to intimidate a guy who can literally teleport away if he so chooses."

Mercury sighed, nodding "Yeah that makes sense. If he doesn't want to be here, it's not like we can stop him from leaving. Even if we locked him up, it's not like he'd stay locked up."

"Exactly, that's why we have to befriend this buffoon otherwise we'll- heeey! You're back!" Emerald said as her face immediately brightened at the sight of Demyx walking back out the glass door.

The nobody smiled in response "Yup! Where to next guys? I'm having a blast!

"I am too!" Emerald responded as she laced an arm through the blondes elbow and began walking down the street.

"And so is Mercury, **right**?" Emerald said with a tone that Mercury figured would lead to consequences if he didn't comply.

The young man forced a smile as he walked along the other side of Demyx "Of course I am! I haven't been on a good shopping spree in ages!"

"Sweet! Let's go see if we can find an instrument place. I'd love to see what type of music this place has to offer!" Demyx proposed with a grin.

"Sounds like a plan!" Emerald said matching his enthusiasm.

* * *

"Man I could see myself getting addicted to this stuff." Ruby said in between bites before chomping down on the last morsel of her frozen treat.

"I nearly was." Roxas commented as he looked down at his stick. It wasn't a winner, but that was okay, he'd only wanted the Popsicle.

"Nearly? You realize that you brought us here twice in one day right? I think you absolutely were Roxas!" Yang tease eying the Sea Salt ice cream in her hand.

"To his credit, this clock tower provides an excellent view of the town below as well as an exquisite view of the sun. I can't blame him for his addiction if it's from this combo of wonderful sensations." Weiss smiled as she took another bite.

Soon the frozen treats were finished, leaving little for the group to do except leave.

"So... how are we doing this?" Yang asked with hands on her hips.

"What do you mean?" responded the young man.

"Well..." Yang elaborated scratching her head "There are four of us-" She said pointing to them "And only three of these coats." She said as she tugged against the article of clothing wrapped around her.

"Oh... right... that could be a problem." Roxas frowned.

"Oh come now you guys can not be serious right now." Weiss said rolling her eyes at their dilemma.

"I mean, I could just go through again." Ruby commented looking at the group innocently.

"No no, we can't have that again. It's a miracle that you made it out okay the first time. I don't think we should tempt fate a second time." Roxas said biting the inside of his cheek.

Weiss buried her face into her palm "This really isn't that complicated guys..."

The group turned to her "What do you mean?" Yang said speaking for Ruby and Roxas.

The snow Queen sighed before turning to Roxas "Just Summon the portal please."

Roxas raised an eyebrow before complying, focusing on the area just behind the school to assure that no one would be around.

"Now what gen-" Yang said but before she could finish Weiss had already stepped through.

"ius..." the group stared at the black and purple flames burning strong as they tried to understand what just happened.

"Did she just-"

"Leave us?" Ruby finished. Before another word could be uttered, something black launched out of the portal and collapsed against the tile.

Roxas approached it, lifting the Organization coat with a single hand.

"Oh." Yang grinned "We really are stupid sometimes."

Roxas grinned "here Ruby, put this on and you should be fine."

The girl nodded, zipping the coat up before entering the flames with Yang following suit. Roxas prepared to step through the Corridor of Darkness before the corner of his eye caught movement. A flash of yellow and white. His eyes furrowed as his head turned to look in the direction of the movement. There was a petite figure at the base of the tower, with blonde hair and deep blue eyes staring back up at him. He could tell that the figure was feminine as when she realized he'd notice her she quickly darted towards the winding road leading back down to the rest of the town.

Roxas raised an eyebrow at this, but continued to enter the darkness anyway, convinced it was just some local confused as to what she was seeing. Just as he placed a his foot into the darkness, a feeling made him hesitate. His eyes peeled as he tried to discern what it was that was causing his pause.

 _You know that girl. You've seen her before._

Roxas turned to where he'd last seen the girl and noticed that she had disappeared down the road.

He was still drawing a blank as his instincts told him to go after her for some reason, but he didn't know why. Suddenly his eyes widened as something in the back of his mind clicked, he _had_ seen her before, just a short glimpse, back at the...

 _She was peeking out behind one of the rooms of the mansion! She was there!_

"Which means..." he said with a surprised expression.

 _It means she'll have answers to all of this. She has some relation with DiZ, and that means that you have a chance at understanding exactly what had been going on._

Roxas immediately closed the Darkness behind him before focusing on the base of the road she had descended and erupting a Dark Corridor there. Stepping through, the young man waited with crossed arms for the girl to appeared.

Just as he'd suspected, the girl appeared descending down the road. She wasn't running however as he'd seen her before, instead she was very slowly walking down the road, her simple sky blue sandals quietly clicking against the pavement as she stepped.

Roxas paused as he watched her, despite him being roughly fifty feet away, she didn't appear to notice him with her gaze was averted downward as if she studied the floor as she walked. Roxas couldn't help but feel sympathy for the girl from the sincere look of sadness in her stunning blue eyes as well as the somber frown contrasting with her otherwise attractive features. Her hair was a healthy shade of blonde, resting just past her shoulders as she walked even closer to Roxas, still unaware of his presence. She wore a simple, unimpressive white dress with spaghetti straps and no design. It's length stopped mid thigh, seemingly torn and damaged at its edges as if it had at one point been much longer. He could see what looked like a notebook loosely held in her left hand.

Roxas found his voice choke as he'd originally intended to demand answers, appear intimidating and scare the responses out of her.

Instead, he heard his voice sound out a quiet, almost _concerned_ "Who are you?"

Her eyes widened with shock as her head shot up, staring at him as if he were some mystical creature.

"R-Roxas? But you were- how are you...!?" The girl's eyes turned back towards the road behind her, obviously in confusion about how he'd managed to get ahead of her.

 _So she knows my name._

Roxas concluded as he asked a second time "Who are you?"

"I-, you-" Her voice cut off as her face transitioned into a grimace "You shouldn't be here, go back with your friends. You belong with them." once again her gaze averted downward as the girl quickly attempted to walk past Roxas.

Before she could however Roxas's hand caught her arm, stopping her in place.

"I saw you at the mansion. You were peeking out of one of the room."

Her frown deepened at this, her demeanor reflecting that of a quiet panic.

"I'll ask one. More. Time." He said in a serious tone that told the girl that 'No' wasn't an answer.

"Who are you?"

She sighed, staring at the ground for a moment or two as she seemingly weighed her options. After a short time her head lifted and her eyes met Roxas's.

"I'm Naminé."

* * *

"Wait, where did-" Ruby stumbled over her words as she looked back at the space where the Corridor had just been. Whipping her head around to face both Weiss and Yang she stammered "Where's Roxas?"The group stood in a semi circle just behind the walls of Beacon Academy.

"I- he was just behind us, wasn't he?" Weiss asked with rising concern, turning to Yang she asked with a frown "You were the last one out, what did you see? Were there Heartless? Nobodies?"

Yang mirrored her frown "No,no it was fine, he was just behind me, nothing was wrong..."

"Then..." Ruby began "Why didn't he come through?"

* * *

"So... you're a Nobody... too?" Roxas asked with a raised eyebrow. The two had decided to take a seat on a nearby bench, leaving a space in the middle as they sat.

She nodded "I am. I'm Kairi's Nobody."

 _Kairi... why does that name seem familiar to me?_

Roxas replayed the name a couple of times in his head before his eyes flashed with recognition

"Sora mentioned a Kairi waiting for him... is Kairi a friend of his."

She nodded, a faint smile on her lips "Yes. That's correct. Kairi and Sora are very close friends."

There was a pause as the two fell into silence.

"So... Kairi was consumed by heartless?"

Naminé frowned at this comment "Not exactly... Kairi wasn't, but from what I have been told Sora somehow was... and Kairi heart was within Sora at the time, leading to-" she motioned to herself "Me."

Roxas's eyes widened at this "Wait, does that mean? You and I?"

She smiled back at him "We were created at the same time."

"Wow..." Roxas said sitting back against the bench.

"...may I ask you a question?" Naminé timidly sounded out.

"Sure. Go ahead." Roxas said his eyes tracing the nervous girl beside him.

"Why... no... _how_ are you still... well, you?"

Roxas raised an eyebrow at this "What do you mean?"

Naminé fiddled with her hands as she explained "Well, Ansem told me... that Sora was supposed to absorb you..." her frown deepened "He told me that Nobodies shouldn't exist in general... especially Nobodies like _us._ "

 _what does she mean by that?_

Roxas momentarily asked himself as he prepared his answer "Well..." he scratched the back of his head "I don't really know what happened back there. I just know that everything went fuzzy I could feel myself fading... and then... I heard my friend's voice, and suddenly I was back again."

Roxas turned to look at the girl's expression and was surprised to see a look of amazement staring back at him. Naminé quickly turned away, appearing flustered.

"You're friends? Do you mean those three girls that were sitting up on the clock tower with you?"

Roxas smiled "Yeah, those are the ones." The teen paused as he blinked a few times "Speaking of which, they're probably worried about me since I didn't follow them through... hmmm, I should probably send them a message telling them I'm okay."

"Oh!" Naminé lifted the notebook in her hand "Here, you can write them something."

Roxas smiled at the idea.

* * *

"So what does that mean?" Ruby said in a concerned manner looking to Weiss for answers who was pacing back and forth with her arms behind her.

"The only cause I can reasonable determine for why Roxas wouldn't have followed us through is that he was attacked by a person or creature. Delaying him."

"Crap!" Yang said with her hands on her head "I didn't see anything though!"

"It's likely that the assailant was waiting for the precise moment when Roxas was alone again. Roxas is one tough fighter. I'm sure if anyone needed to take him on they would have wanted the best chances they could."

"So what does that mean for us?What can we do?" Ruby pleaded looking between Yang and Weiss for answers with the former running a hand through her hair and the latter still pacing with a worried expression written on her features.

"Nothing." Yang spoke glumly.

Weiss sighed, coming to a stop and pausing. After several seconds of silence she raised a foot and stomped her heel into the dirt "As much as I hate to admit it, there is little that we can do except wait here and hope that Roxas returns."

"Roxas..." Ruby said, turning and staring at the spot on the ground where the portal had just been.

A moment later, another Corridor of Darkness erupted from the ground leaving looks of delight on the girl's features.

"Roxas!" Weiss called out running towards the portal roughly fifteen feet away. Before she could reach it however a paper airplane gently floated out of the darkness towards them. The Corridor closed immediately after, leaving the girls mystified as the paper airplane continued to gently float towards them.

With a swift movement of her wrist Weiss snatched the airplane out of the sky and examined it. After a moment her eyes widened as she quickly began unfolding the paper.

"What is it?" Yang quickly moved to her side, peering over the girl's shoulder as Ruby did the same.

"It's... a note..." Weiss said with a serious expression as she read over the words.

"Well what does it say?!" Ruby said with an urgency that suggested that she assumed the worst.

Weiss cleared her throat before beginning

" _Hey guys, don't worry I'll be back soon. I found someone else from the mansion. She's nice so I don't think there's anything to worry about. See you guys in a little bit._ "

"Phew!" Yang breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped away from the note "That's a weight off our shoulders right guys?"

Yang peered back at both Weiss and Ruby who remained stiff staring down at the letter.

"Guys?" Yang said with a raised eyebrow "IS everything okay?"

"No..." Ruby uttered under her breath.

"This is so much worse than what I could have imagined." responded Weiss in a grave tone.

"Guys, hold on is there a secret message? Is that not his hand writing? What's wrong?" asked Yang with rising concern in her voice. Had she misread the message? It told them that Roxas was safe, just hanging out with a...

"Oh," Yang muttered realizing the concern.

"He's hanging out with another girl!" Both Weiss and Ruby shouted in unison.

Yang failed at stifling a laugh as she fell over laughing over the two girl's combined panic.

"There's a possibility that he mis-wrote the letter! Perhaps the _S_ in ' _she'_ is not actually an _S_ and is rather a hair or something!" Weiss deduced combing over the note again.

Ruby's frown was deep as she stepped away from the group, over exaggerated tears running down her cheeks.

Yang couldn't stop laughing if she tried.

* * *

"Ruby is the one I heard. None of them know what happened either. Apparently everything went white and when they came into the room with Sora in it Ruby and I were unconscious."

"...huh..." Naminé responded biting her thumb "That doesn't make sense..."

"Why not?"

"Oh?" Naminé looked up as if she hadn't realized she had been speaking aloud "I, well, Ansem said... well, he told me that we belong with our Somebody, that we will be forever incomplete without them. He also told me that Sora wouldn't be able to wake if he didn't... well, absorb you."

Roxas nodded, averting his gaze to stare up at the clouds "Forever incomplete..." he mumbled to himself, he smiled before saying "Well, I can say first hand that's a lie."

Naminé blinked a few times in shock "I'm sorry?"

Roxas faced her again with a brilliant grin on his features "I used to think the very same thing. That I was just a faction of someone else, that I was less than everyone around me. That I had almost no value or reason to exist." he paused, bringing a hand to his chest as his grin began to waver "I used to think that I would never have a heart... that I would forever exist as an empty husk of the person I was supposed to be."

His smile immediately returned in full flourish "But I can say now that _none_ of that is true. I know I have a Heart. My friends showed me that for sure. I know that I'm my own person now. And after meeting Sora, I know first hand that I'm definitely not just a fraction of who he is."

The same look of amazement washed over the girl's features "...wow... that's incredible..."

"It is. So don't let what Ansem or DiZ said get to you. You _can_ be your own person. You _are_ allowed to exist, and even if you beginning started as someone else, doesn't mean you can't still be you when all is said and done."

Roxas felt a wave of warmth wash over him as the girl smiled brightly back at him, obviously uplifted by his words.

"Alright, so, now I have some question for you." Roxas said with confidence.

She nodded.

"Why were you at the mansion? You obviously knew DiZ and Ansem, but how did you know them? And knowing how much DiZ dislikes Nobodies... why would he keep you around?"

Naminé frowned as her gaze shifted away towards the ground, clearly reflecting on her time spent with DiZ "He... he kept me around so that I could help wake Sora up."

It was clear to Roxas by the way she shifted her eyes away that she was clearly uncomfortable by the topic. The boy wanted to press the matter, but knew he shouldn't by the way she was looking.

"I... see."

He wanted to ask _how_ she was helping, he wanted to ask _why_ Sora had been asleep in the first place since he hadn't known himself, and most of all, he wanted to know _Who_ DiZ and Ansem were, and why the latter looked so much like Xemnas.

But he could tell by her uncomfortable body language that it was unlikely he would get the answers he wanted, or at least, not right now.

So instead, he asked a different question altogether "So... What are you planning to do now?"

"I... don't know." She responded rubbing her arm "I don't really have a purpose really. I thought, well, I didn't really think past waking Sora up." she paused "Maybe I should go back to the destiny Islands... I know that's where Kairi is. Maybe that's where I should be."

"At the Islands?" Roxas confirmed.

"...Sure." She responded not meeting his eyes.

Roxas's eyebrows furrowed at the comment as he thought about her response.

"Wait, do you mean that you... you want to return yourself to Kairi?" Roxas exclaimed.

"Well... sorta..." She responded awkwardly.

Roxas suddenly jumped to his feet, turning to face her "But I told you! You don't have to feel like you're just some empty shell! You can live your life the way _you_ want to!"

"But I'm **not** you!" She suddenly screamed out at him. His head reared back at the sudden outburst.

"I'm... I'm not like you Roxas..." She murmured looking down.

"What... do you mean? We're both Nobodies, aren't we?"

Her frown deepened "I don't mean that way. I don't have friends like you Roxas, I don't have a purpose to be, or a reason to exist like you do." She looked up, meeting his gaze "I saw you and your friends on the clock tower up there. I saw you guys back at the mansion too. I saw how they cried for you, and how you did the same." She paused, looking back towards the ground.

"I can tell that you all really care for one and other." She wrapped her arms around herself, curling inward "It makes sense why _you_ would want to continue existing. You have people who care about you, who depend on you and would miss you if you were gone." She brought her knees to her chest, burying her face in them "I don't have any of that Roxas. I'm not like you. Even if all that you've said is true, that doesn't change the fact that I still don't have a _reason_ to exist. I just thought that, maybe, if I'm lucky, that Kairi has a reason to be, and if I became one with her... well then I'd have a purpose too."

Roxas felt his lips curve into a frown as he stared down at the sad girl in front of him.

"Then..." he began with furrowed eyebrows "Why don't you come with me?"

The girl stiffened before looking back up at Roxas with a stunned expression.

"What?"

Roxas felt a smile creeping on his face as he repeated "You could come back with me. Come to Remnant with me and meet all my friends too."

"I- wait, but, I-" the girl stammered searching for an excuse.

"I sure everybody would like you."

"But I'm a Nobody, they would think I'm a weirdo if they ever found out-"

"ahem!" Roxas interrupted before gesturing to himself "Did you forget who you were talking to?"

A look of shock washed over Naminé's features "They _know!?_ "

Roxas nodded "Why do you think I chose to take them with me? They know what I am, or at least, what I _thought_ I was, and they accepted me."

Naminé appeared shell shocked by this information "B-But Ansem said-"

Roxas chuckled as he shook his head "Not everything DiZ and Ansem said is true. Actually..." Roxas paused, giving the idea some thought "I'm finding that a _lot_ of what I heard them say was wrong."

"But, there's, it's just-" Naminé began once more.

"Look," Roxas interrupted with a raise of his hand "I'm not going to force you. If you still want to go back to Kairi and follow her passions, what she's decided is her purpose, then I won't stop you. However..." He outstretched a hand "If you want, you can choose to come with me, and find out what _your_ path will be, and maybe, you'll be able to find _your_ reason for existing, your _own_ purpose."

Naminé paused hesitantly as she stared at the hand outstretched in front of her. Roxas could see in her eyes a lifetime of memories telling her that she was worthless, nothing more than a Nobody, that she should exist in the first place.

A defiant look crossed the girl's features as she reached out and took Roxas's hand. She looked up at him with the same determined look and said "I will."

* * *

Demyx entered the warehouse with an ice cream in his hand which he frantically licked at due to it's rapidly melting state. Mercury and Emerald each approached on either side of the Nobody as they neared the center of the poorly lit warehouse. As they stepped they moved past several members of the White Fang busy organizing and carrying the numerous crates of Dust into each yet another freight container. After navigating between stacks of freight containers each reaching all the way to the ceiling of the building forming makeshift hallways, they eventually found their way to the center where Cinder stood patiently talking to a more annoyed than usual Roman Torchwick.

"You want me to move all of this Dust Now?" He complained "Do you see how much we have? We've been stealing so much that we hardly have the space to deal with it, we finally got it organized again and you want it moved?"

"What's going on?" Emerald asked confused stepping next to the fiery woman.

Cinder flashed a smile as she eyed the girl "We're moving onto phase two."

"But wait." Mercury exclaimed with a raised eyebrow "I thought that we weren't supposed to get to phase two for like, another month at the soonest."

Cinder's smile widened as she stepped past the two, approaching Demyx who stood stiffly as he eyed her.

"Well, that was before..." she said as she ran a hand up Demyx's neck with a finger, he felt a shiver run down his spine "We enlisted this one..."

Her seductive tone left Demyx speechless and nervous as she brought her lips to his ear, standing on the tips of her toes to do so "This is all because of you big boy. Be proud. You've served me well." She lowered herself staring directly into his eyes; Demyx's throat made an audible ' _gulp_ '. Cinder released a slight laugh before smiling "Don't be so nervous. Hard work is appreciated around here. You'll be _rewarded_ greatly for speeding up our plans to such an extent."

Demyx found himself merely nodding before Cinder turned and walked away, her hips swaying back and forth as she did so.

"We're done with Dust now. I'll send you details and coordinates tonight." she said with a confident smile.

* * *

Xemnas's frown was deep and defined as he sat at the center of the Room Where Nothing Gathers. The only remaining members of Organization XIII, Saïx, Luxord, and Xaldin, all sat around the room in their respective chairs.

The room was silent.

"Has there been any progress towards Kingdom Hearts?" asked Xaldin, his voice echoing within the otherwise quiet room

Xemnas appeared unaware of the question as he continued to stare directly ahead, his face blank and expressionless.

After several moments without a response, Saïx spoke "Since Roxas abandoned our cause, there has been no collection of Hearts. As a result-"

Luxord, who was resting his chin in his hand interrupted "You can just say no."

The room grew quiet once again.

"Why can't we bring the Heartless to him? It would be a simple matter of having the Heartless follow us to him." Xaldin suggested.

Saïx scowled at the comment "You know exactly the reason for why we cannot do that."

Xaldin frowned "It has been explained to me. But I don't believe _that_ could actually happen."

Luxord spoke next, appearing disinterested by the conversation "Arrogance is unbecoming of you Xaldin."

Scowling in response, Xaldin shot back "Confidence is key to success, otherwise nothing gets done."

"Confidence can often lead to carelessness." Luxord retorted with bored eyes.

"Would you rather we sit here and do nothing!?" Xaldin spoke with irritation in his voice.

"Better than to perish through sheer stupidity." Luxord spat back.

"We are already Nothing. What does it matter if we continue to exist? If we do not obtain our hearts, then this existence means nothing." Saïx spoke calmly.

" **Enough.** " Spoke Xemnas in a dangerous tone drawing the attention of the other members.

"Are plans have not change. And I sense that someone _else_ has re-entered the situation once more."

Luxord and Xaldin shot each other raised eyebrows before turning back to their leader.

"Who?"

A grin formed on Xemnas's features "Sora has awoken."

* * *

Yang sat beside her sister on the cool, uncut grass of the field behind Beacon. The two stared up at the clouds as they passed the time. Weiss had resigned herself to fiddling with the paper that had been formally an airplane. She had transformed the parchment into a small paper crane and was flapping its wings when suddenly Dark flames shot out of the ground directly next to the girl.

The group leapt to their feet, taking several steps back as they awaited for whoever or _whatever_ was planning on coming through this time around. Their eyes were wide as they paused, studying the darkness as it swayed and flickered like a flame.

Out of the darkness stepped forth Roxas with his hood up. Looking up, his eyes scanned over his friends before flashing a bright smile that they soon reciprocated.

Weiss breathed a sigh of relief "You have a bad habit of worrying us you know. You should really-" Roxas raised a finger, prompting her to pause in her statement.

Quickly unzipping his coat, he took off the heavy article of clothing leaving him in a simple pair of black pants and T-shirt before turning and tossing the coat black through the portal.

"What are you doing?" Ruby asked with a confused look.

"I have someone I'd like you all to meet." he said with a smile motioning towards the Corridor of Darkness just as a figure emerged.

The figure raised their head as they stepped forward, the Darkness dissipating behind them as the hood was brought back, revealing deep blue eyes and pale skin.

"Hello," the girl spoke with a smile,her voice was quiet and docile "I'm Naminé, It's nice to meet you all."

* * *

 _ **AN:**_ _I'm not gonna lie, I had this chapter done last week. I postponed uploading it due to the desire that I could create a omake halloween episode for you guys. Unfortunately I never found the inspiration to create said chapter, so instead I'm left with just the main chapter to give to you guys. Not a whole lot happened this chapter, I know, but it's all just set up, as well as some Blake action for those of you who've been missing her. It was fun writing such a silent character and exploring the mindset of a proper thief. I know that this chapter isn't as long as some, but it is certainly longer than what my standard is. The real reason why I wanted to post this now is because it was getting in the way of me beginning the next chapter. So hopefully I can make ONE GAWD DAMN DEADLINE FOR ONCE and post on time. I'm trying guys, I really am, life's just so chaotic that it's keeping me distracted more than usual. Anyhow, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Leave a review if you feel I deserve one. I always respond via PM and some of these conversations have made significant impacts on the story so please do review._

 _Until next time!_


	28. Chapter 28: They Come At Night

Roxas released a deep breath as his eyes studied the foliage and brightly colored leaves surrounding him. His ocean blue eyes closed as he took a deep breath of the Forever Fall Forest, his nostrils filled with the pleasant scent of damp wood and grass from the rainfall that had descended only a few nights ago.

Roxas made no visible reaction as the sound of a snapping twig echoed throughout the otherwise silent space. The boy's eyes slowly opened as a grin began to form from the corners of his lips, making a mental note of where the sound had come from just a few steps behind him.

"Looks like they've finally found me..." Roxas mumbled to himself just before his legs launched him into the sky, easily avoiding an ax handle strike from Jaune before descending on the boy and forcing him to the ground, placing a foot on his back.

"You should be more careful about your footwork Jaune, you know a lot of fights can be determined from the very first step."

Jaune merely grumbled in response as he halfheartedly tried to wiggle his way free from under the boot.

"Yeah yeah, be aware of my surroundings and such. You know maybe you should take a note from your own book sometimes." Jaune grumbled looking up at the boy with a devious grin.

"I am aware of my-" Just then Roxas felt the hair on the back of his neck raise before he quickly ducked down. The moment he did, the explosive sound of a sniper rifle split the air just as the high massive caliber bullet pierced the space directly where Roxas's chest had been.

Roxas stumbled to his feet with wide eyes just as a blur of black and red moved towards him at a startling speed. The boy responded with a start, summoning his Oblivion just in time as Ruby's form emerged from the blur slamming her weapon straight into where Roxas had just barely been able to position his Keyblade.

 _She's always so good at catching me off guard. This is the third time now she's nearly caught me with that trick._

A deep frown ran down Ruby's features as her silver eyes saw that her attack had been blocked. Moving quickly, Ruby placed her two combat boots on the Oblivion before back flipping away, establishing thirty feet of distance from each other.

"Why would you say that Jaune!?" Ruby complained as the young man in question slowly got to his feet picking up his sword and shield as he did so "You completely gave me away!" the girl complained further.

Rubbing his chest Jaune sighed "I thought it would be clever! Like, I tell him to be careful and then _BOOM_ you nail him." the boy shook his head in frustration "I didn't think he'd be able to respond so quickly to that."

"Do you even _know_ Roxas?" Ruby asked incredulously raising both eyebrows.

"Yeah yeah I know! I was just trying to be cool is all!" Jaune shot back with closed eyes.

Meanwhile Roxas's eyes were scanning the trees around them, looking for the other members of their little game.

"So where is everyone else?" Roxas asked with a grin of excitement.

Ruby's shoulders slumped "We're it this time around. Weiss took Namine and Yang to see if they could hunt down Pyrrha who as far as we can tell has been particularly slippery today."

"Is that so..." Roxas said with a sly grin still looking throughout the trees. After a moment of stillness, he looked back at Ruby out of the corner of his eye.

"What?" Ruby said placing a hand on her hip "You don't believe me?"

"Not for a minute."

Ruby let out a laugh. Roxas could tell that she was trying to make it sound like an honest laugh, but caught signs of nervousness from her eyes.

"C'mon Roxas, we both know I'm a terrible liar." Ruby said trying to keep a straight face "I'm pretty sure you'd be able to tell if I was lying,"

Roxas's grin widened "But I can tell that you're-" before another word was spoke, he felt a heat on his back prompting him to spin around in surprise just as a massive wave of red made contact with his form, resulting in a massive explosion that sent him flipping backwards. The boy grunted as his back made contact with a tree before sliding back to the ground.

"Yes! I got him!" announced a cheerful looking Namine smiling brightly. She raised a rapier not unlike Weiss's in design above her head in triumph as she celebrated her mini- victory.

Roxas rubbed the point where the bark had made contact with his head as he let an impressed grin wash over his features. He didn't know how, but ever since they'd began these training exercises Roxas as well as the rest of the group had discovered just how adept Namine was at sneaking up on people. The girl had taken to fighting well, surprisingly well to the point that Pyrrha, Yang and Ruby all considered her a prodigy with how quickly she was picking up on sword play. The girl had first joined Roxas and Jaune in their exercises, figuring that she would need to know how to fight sooner than later when residing in Beacon. Much to his dismay, Jaune soon realized that the girl who'd never picked up a blade before in her life was already able to beat him in a one on one, and not soon after was able to competently handle herself against Roxas himself much to his surprise.

 _That's not to say that she doesn't have a long way to go of course._

The girl was skilled, there was no doubt about it, but that wasn't to say that someone like Ruby or Yang wouldn't be able to overcome her if they put their mind to it. She was naturally talented, but lacked the experience and wisdom the others had collected during their times through the academy and fighting Grimm.

"Now now," Roxas said rising to his feet "The objective wasn't to _hit_ me, it was to reduce my aura to Zero."

Namine's smile fell quickly as her eyes reflected terror "B-But, there's- there's no way that we can-"

"C'mon Namine! We've got this!" Ruby announced with a confident grin, patting the nervous looking girl on the back. Roxas watched as the her eyes darted between Roxas and Ruby before her expression transitioned into a stubborn confidence.

"You're right! Let's do this!" she said her grip on her Rapier tightening. The weapon had been given to her by Weiss upon noticing that, despite being proficient with a short sword like Jaune's the girl appeared too small to properly swing it at times. The Schnee handed over her own rapier curious to see if Namine would take to it easier than a standard blade.

She did with vigor.

Namine suddenly shot forward, moving to pierce Roxas's chest with a proper stance shown to her by Weiss herself. Roxas nimbly dodged out of the way, swinging his Oblivion towards her chest only to have it deflected by Ruby appearing suddenly from a blur.

"Gonna have to step up your game this time!" Ruby announce with a devious grin just as Jaune came in from behind, swinging his blade in a wild attempt to cleave Roxas down the middle. The former Nobody sidestepped of the way before slamming the hilt of the Keyblade into the bridge of Jaune's nose prompting the boy to stumble back clutching his face.

"erk! Gawd that hurt!" Jaune complained before shooting Roxas a dirty look "Stop with the face!" he demanded before charging towards Roxas with his shield first.

 _Smart._ Roxas thought to himself studying the approach _I can't tell where his weapon is coming from from behind the shield._

Not giving him a second to breath Roxas found the point of a deep black rapier mere inches from his face before he veered his head back, narrowly avoiding Namine's strike.

"Shoot!" She exclaimed before feeling Roxas's hand pressed against her midsection.

"See ya," he whispered in her ear, realization washed over Namine's features as she looked down at the gloved hand.

"Don't you da-"

She managed to get out in a panic just as Roxas murmured "Aero."

Instantly the blonde was sent flying up and back soon out of view. Roxas could hear her scream cut off as she landed in the branches of a tree far away.

Roxas let out a laugh that was soon cut short as he was forced to raise his Oblivion just in time to stop a horizontal cut from Ruby's Crescent Rose.

His blue eyes met Ruby's silver and they each grinned as Roxas raised a hand and attempted to do the same to Ruby as he'd done to Namine. At the very last second Ruby leapt from her position, shooting a single shot towards the ground to propel her straight up and away from his spell.

"You should know that isn't gonna work on me!" Ruby cheered as Roxas's gaze followed the girl's trajectory into the air.

Roxas raised his hand again aiming for the girl "You should know better than to take to the air! It makes you an easy-"

Roxas bit his tongue as suddenly he felt a hard flat surface collide with the side of his head. The boy stumbled realizing what Ruby had done. He turned his attention to Jaune who was descending his blade towards his shoulder.

 _Clever, distract me long enough for your team to get a shot in._

Roxas shot Ruby a knowing look before turning his attention back to Jaune and parrying his blade. The boy stumbled as a result, tumbling towards Roxas who responded by slamming his Keyblade into his stomach. Jaune was sent flying into a bush just as the sky darkened.

Roxas looked up just in time to see a swirling mass of red and black blocking out the sun and moving towards him at rocketing speeds. Startling, Roxas dove out of the way just as Ruby's Crescent Rose appeared carving the ground where he'd been standing with a long deep gash.

Roxas spun around and threw his Oblivion at the girl who rose her Scythe just in time. The Keyblade began to grind against the scythe as it attempted to force its way towards the girl to no avail.

After a moment of this Ruby swung her Crescent Rose, launching the Keyblade off into the tree line before darting after Roxas who was stepping back hesitantly. He leaped over a swipe designed to take out his legs and summoned his Oblivion to his side once more, bringing the weapon down on Ruby's head.

The girl cried out in pain as the attack connected and was knocked to her butt. Roxas watched with wide unnerved eyes as the girl raised two hands to the top of her head where a lump was quickly forming.

"Uh, I-"

"That hurt a lot!" Ruby complained, over dramatic anime tears running down her cheeks as she gently rubbed the sore spot on her head.

"I- er- sorry, here let me see." Roxas knelt down in front of the girl looking over her injury. He hadn't thought he'd swung too hard, but it was possible that he'd misjudged his attack and put a little too much power into-

Roxas's thoughts froze as he felt the presence of cold steel being pressed against his throat.

"Gotcha." Ruby said with a devious smile.

Not daring to move Roxas's eyes looked down and saw that she was holding short dagger and that her tears had immediately dried up replaced by a look of mischief.

 _When did she start carrying a dagger on her?_

He glanced towards his Oblivion which he'd set on the ground assuming the fighting was over. It was too far away to grab, and even if he summoned it to his hand it wouldn't be fast enough to stop Ruby's dagger at such a delicate vital organ.

Roxas chuckled, raising his hands in defeat as he murmured "Fine Fine, you win."

Ruby' bright smile returned as she pumped a fist into the air "Wooo! We did it! We took down the great Roxas!"

"You know that was a dirty trick right?" He said returning to his feet and offering the girl a hand.

"Well duh!" Ruby retorted as she took the hand and was pulled up "How else was I supposed to win, you're you Roxas, I don't know if there's a first year in Beacon that could stand up to you." she flashed a brilliant smile as their eyes met. Roxas's lips couldn't help but smile back as he looked into her silver eyes, he found himself comparing her smile to other things that he enjoyed, like ice cream or the setting and rising sun. He didn't understand why his brain was making these connections when all of a sudden, the boy felt a... _strange_ sensation in his chest, as if a chill ran up his spine, but only within his chest cavity instead.

Roxas's eyes furrowed as he took a step back, looking down at the center of his chest as he began to rub the point of interest with a palm.

"Are you okay?" Ruby asked with a concerned frown.

"uh, I don't..." The feeling dissipated quickly, leaving Roxas feeling normal again "Yeah... yeah I think so... that was weird."

Ruby's head tilted to the side "What was wei-"

"That was so annoying!" Weiss's voice called out from the tree line. Ruby and Roxas's heads turned to see Yang, Weiss and Pyrrha approaching, each appearing a little worse than wear.

"I thought it was fun." Yang said grinning, a forming bruise on her thigh.

"It was infuriating!" Weiss complained turning on her friend staring daggers "It was like I wasn't even allowed to touch her! Like a godly force was telling me 'nope' every time I would even come close."

Pyrrha's expression was sheepish as she kept her gaze downward, not daring to meet the girl's eye "Sorry about that..." she murmured in response.

Weiss dismissed the apology, waving it off as she huffed"It's not your fault that your semblance is so strong. 'Polarity', pfft, might as well be 'you can't touch me'." she crossed her arms before turning her attention towards where Roxas and Ruby were standing.

"Let me guess. You had about the same luck as us?" Weiss asked stepping towards the two.

"Well... actually..." Ruby snickered trying to contain her rising grin.

An expression of anguish and disbelief washed over Weiss's features "There's no way."

Ruby nodded before cheering "I beat Roxas!"

Weiss's stunned expression turned to Roxas "She's lying right? You let her win didn't you?"

 _well, it's_ _ **possible**_ _that I could have pulled away and brought my Oblivion in time to stop her dagger._

He thought before taking in Ruby's smile once more as she went off to brag to Yang and Pyrrha.

 _But I don't want to take away her win._

"Nope, she won it. Caught me by surprise with a trick I didn't expect." he lifted his hands in surrender "I couldn't do anything."

Weiss's shoulders slumped as she stared into Roxas's blue eyes "I can't believe this." she pointed a dangerous finger towards his chest "You were supposed to be unbeatable!"

Roxas laughed from her seriousness as he felt a hand slap the back of his head.

"Ow! Hey!" he complained upon feeling a hand slap the back of his head.

"You launched me into a tree." Namine said coldly, still picking leaves out of her otherwise golden hair.

"Seemed like a good idea at the time." Roxas retorted coyly. The girl growled but stepped away, picking away a twig that had tangled in her skirt. She no longer wore the torn and decrepit dress that she'd arrived at Beacon wearing. Not soon after befriending Ruby, Weiss, and the other student's at their table, Weiss and ruby had taken it upon themselves to get the girl some proper battle clothes. When the girl had returned from their little shopping spree, Roxas could have sworn that Ruby and Weiss had somehow managed to create an amalgamation of their own two styles of outfits to create Namine's. Her skirt and corset almost mirrored Ruby's in design excluding the frills of the skirt and the threads of the Corset taking a snow white color from Weiss's insistence Roxas guessed. The corset ran up to the girl's chest, stopping over her breasts and revealing the upper section of Namine's chest where Weiss had insisted on placing a deep black pendant. Cloaking her arms was a long sleeved coat identical to Weiss's top aside from it's inner colors shading black instead of a bright red. Seeing that her previous shoes had been less than optimal for combat Ruby had decided to select a pair of combat boots like her own to give the girl, which Namine accepted with gratitude.

Roxas watched her walk away, a smile on his face. The girl had grown leaps and bounds over the past month, as well as overcome some... communication barriers that Roxas still couldn't say he'd understood during the time they'd been present.

* * *

 _-One month earlier-_

The group was quietly walking down the hallways of Beacon, their footsteps echoing throughout the school as they made their way towards Ozpin's office. They had been only recently introduced to Namine who explained to them who she was and _what_ she was, and to her surprise, they had barely batted an eye. Ruby had been quick to warm up to the girl upon learning her story, stating

"So you're like Roxas's twin sister?"

"Uh," Namine stole a glance towards Roxas "Not exactly I don't think..."

"But you were both born at the same time." Weiss stated.

"Well," the girl appeared uncertain about her answer "Technically yes."

"Well then that makes you twins. You even look similar to boot." Weiss stated matter of factly.

Roxas and Namine turned to look at each other in response to her comment.

Roxas bore a grin as he said "Well would you look at that, we kinda do huh?"

Namine returned an impish smile "I... well I suppose..."

"That's so cool!" Ruby exclaimed grabbing the girls hand "I never thought we'd be able to meet any of Roxas's family members considering, well, you know." Ruby smiled awkwardly.

Namine found her lips curling into a smile, did this girl know that her smile was infectious?

"Yeah, I guess... that is kinda cool."

"Sheesh you're even acting like he did when he first got here." Yang teased looking the girl up and down "all quiet and awkward."

"I wasn't awkward." Roxas protested with a hurt expression.

"Oh please you're awkward even nowadays." Yang shot back with a snort.

Namine found herself smiling at the group as they bickered with one and other. It wasn't like what she'd grown accustomed to back at the mansion. She wasn't used to silly banter. Usually statements towards her were only only made out of necessity, not out of desire to actually _speak_ to her. She was quickly made aware that her continued existance was only due to her usefulness to restoring Sora, and every time Diz's cold gaze met hers, she was reminded of that fact.

Head's turned as they walked, curious eyes landing on Namine as she walked closely at Roxas's side with her gaze strictly to the floor. Had she turned to look behind her she would have seen Weiss staring daggers into the students rude enough to stare with Ruby beside her smiling obliviously and Yang smiling brightly, waving to passing students that she was friendly with.

Not long after, the group exited the elevator where Ozpin was awaiting them with his usual easy going smile.

"Why hello students." he said rising from his chair "It appears that you've been skipping class haven't you?"

A deep blush ran through Ruby's, Weiss's, and Yang's expressions as they averted their gaze downward. Meanwhile Roxas's gaze continued straight ahead, meeting Ozpin without a wince.

"It was important." the boy spoke clearly, confidence laced in his words.

"I'm sure it was." Ozpin's expression shifted to a more serious tone "And who might this be?"

Namine looked panicked as she realized that it was she that he was referring to.

"I um-" she paused, collecting herself before continuing "I am Namine, a pleasure to meet you." she said with a discrete bow.

"A pleasure it is," Ozpin smiled a reassuring smile that put Namine at ease, turning back to Roxas he said "And what is it that you need from me exactly?" as he spoke he stepped towards the group until he was standing just in front of Roxas.

"I need a favor." Roxas responded motioning towards Namine "I need you to enroll her into the school like you did for me."

A frown formed on Ozpin's features "Roxas, as much as I'd love to provide a dorm and home for those who need it. This is not an inn, this is not a hotel, this is a _school_ first and foremost. And a _battle school_ at that."

Roxas nodded "I understand that."

Ozpin raised an eyebrow "So, you recognize that means that she would have to qualify based on Beacon's standards, correct?"

"I do." Roxas said confidently, turning he looked over at Namine with a smile "I'm sure she'll be able to pass whatever sort of test that you have for her."

A panicked expression washed over Namine's feature's at this comment, causing confusion from Roxas.

Ozpin, noticing this too, asked "Is this true? Do you have combat training in the same vein as your friend Roxas?"

Namine's eyes darted back and forth between Roxas and Ozpin nervously before sighing and saying "I-I don't. I'm sorry."

Roxas's eyes widened as his jaw slacked he stared at Namine as if she'd just grown wings and taken flight.

"You, you don't know how to..." Roxas trailed off, realizing how foolish he'd been. Having lived with both Ansem and DiZ the boy had merely assumed that _some_ combat training **must** have occurred.

Ozpin's face grew grim "I'm sorry to have to turn away someone so young, but unfortunately this school is strictly dedicated to those who've decided to commit their lives to becoming Huntsman's and Huntress's."

Namine's eyes looked between Roxas, Ruby, then Yang and finally Weiss. Each bore the same shocked expression as Roxas obviously assuming the same thing he had.

"But... what if..." Namine's gaze shifted back towards Ozpin "What if I learn how to fight?"

Ozpin's eyebrows raised "I'm sorry?"

"What if I learn to fight, then can I stay here?"

Roxas's eyes suddenly lit up "yeah! We can all teach her! And this is a _combat_ school, so it's not like there's a better place to practice."

Ozpin frowned "I understand that you wouldn't know this considering the... _unique_ circumstances surrounding your enrollment, but typically students have to proceed through a combat specific school in order to even qualify for Beacon Academy."

"I- oh... really?" Roxas turned with questioning eyes back towards his friend who confirmed Ozpin's words with nodding heads.

"To expect this young woman to attend Beacon without the _years_ of training most students get before even applying to Beacon is unreasonable as well as dangerous for Namine herself. She needs to go through the proper outlets in order to be able to attend. I'm sorry Roxas, you've excelled at my school as well as developed quite a reputation from that arrest you and Weiss instigated, but my answer to all of this is no." the man turned and began to head back to his desk, the mug of tea in his hand still warm.

"Give me a month!" Namine's voice echoed throughout the room, sheer will and determination laced behind her words.

"...I'm sorry?" Ozpin's words rang out as he cocked a head back towards the girl.

"Let me stay here a month to train, practice and learn everything that I can. Then, after testing me, if you feel that I still don't cut it, then you can expel me!" Namine said stepping forward towards the man and past Roxas. The group's collective gaze looked back and forth between Namine and the silver haired man with looks of anticipation.

"You want a month? While I'm not doubting your abilities, as I said before, the majority of students here have spent literal years practicing and training to enroll in Beacon Academy. You expect to learn all of that in a single month?"

"I do." the girl spoke stubbornly, resembling Roxas with the way her eyes twinkled with stubbornness.

Ozpin sighed, a tight frown on his lips as he opened his mouth to decline once more just as a voice cut him off.

"She can be a part of my team." Weiss said nonchalantly.

Heads turned to look at her.

"What?" she asked with crossed arms "If she needs a dorm to stay then she can stay with me. Besides I'd be able to help her with practicing and basic battle strategies."

A smile split Yang's face as she said "Yeah! And I could help too! Show her when to attack and guard! When to rush and when there is an opening!"

A sheepish smile crossed Ruby's features "I could help her with how to sneak up on a Grimm, and how to hunt."

A bright smile crossed Roxas's features "And you know that I'll be there guiding her the whole way."

Namine stepped forward, crossing the distance before stopping just before the older man and staring defiantly into his eyes.

"So? Do you agree?" she asked stretching out a hand to shake.

Ozpin's frown remained, studying the girl with half lidded eyes "Namine, when you're friend Roxas came to me many months ago, he didn't know what he wanted, he needed refuge, and I gave it to him here in return for his services as a future Huntsman." he paused, seemingly wanting to select his words carefully "What you're desiring from me is to be taught how to become a Huntress of Beacon, a desire that the rest of your friends share." he said motioning to the group collecting behind her. Namine took a moment to meet eyes with each of the group, scanning their solemn expressions.

"Becoming a Huntress is no trivial decision. For most it's a life choice, one that should not be decided upon through a simple whim. It's dedicating your life to one of danger, sacrifice and instability." Ozpin looked deep into the girl's eyes "I don't know if I see that from you. Namine,is this something you want for your life?"

Namine paused, her confidence wavering as she looked back towards where Roxas and his friends were waiting. She couldn't read their faces, aside from Roxas who bore an expression of concern.

"I-" Namine paused, forcing her gaze to the ground "I want to matter. I want to be important. I want to be able to help my friends and not feel like a-" she stopped herself, blinking away from the word "A Nobody."

Roxas winced at the word.

Looking back up and meeting his gaze once more the fire had returned to the girl's eyes "I want to become strong, strong enough to matter and strong enough that no one ever glances over me as if I'm not even there." Namine's fists tightened "I want to help those who feel helpless, or afraid, or trapped. I want to _help_ people, people that I've never been allowed to know... or talk to..." She paused, closing her eyes as she forced herself out of the memories flooding over her and back to the conversation at hand "If this school can do that for me, make me _more_ than who I am now. If I'll be able to protect the ones I care about, and the ones who can't protect themselves then yes, I want to become a... _Huntress_ just as much as anybody else at this school."

A thin smile split Ozpin's face as he looked down at the girl, almost as if saying _Good answer_ "Well, it doesn't appear that you'll be taking no for an answer does it?"

Namine shook her head "No."

Ozpin chuckled before extending a single hand "One month starting tomorrow. If you can't pass my test by then you are to be expelled and placed in the proper channels to apply to Beacon once you're actually ready, agreed?"

Namine gulped before nodding her head and releasing the hand shake. Turning back to her friends, she marched towards the elevator with a stiffness that appeared unintentional.

The group gathered back into the elevator before Ozpin called after once more

"Roxas?" he asked turning the boy's head towards him "Would you mind staying up here for a second? I have something to speak to you about."

Roxas casted a confused look to his classmate before stepping out of the Elevator. The group hesitated to press the button down until Ozpin gave them a reassuring look " Don't worry, I'll make sure not to keep your friend for too long. I just have to speak to him about something personal that I need his insight on. Nothing too serious."

Yang nodded with a smile before hitting the button and the doors closed. The moment they came to a shut Namine's knees buckled underneath her and the girl would have crumpled to the ground had Ruby and Weiss not instinctively caught her with a startle.

"Are you okay?" Yang asked with worry.

"What did I just agree to?!" Namine said in a wild panic "I barely know how to throw a punch let alone fight! How am I supposed to learn everything I need to in just a month?"

The group paused, staring at the girl as she fretted with nervous looks before Yang released a loud bellowing laughter.

"Why are you laughing?!" Namine asked in an almost offended tone "I'm being serious!" she said her hands and knees trembling.

"I know!" Yang said in between bouts of laughter "It's just that- _wheeze-_ The girl in there seemed so serious and driven! And to see that you were actually like this during that whole talk is just-" she paused, catching her breath "It's just hilarious!"

"No it's not!" Namine said with a deep frown just as Ruby and Weiss began to snicker beside her.

"Hey!" Namine shouted insulted as she shifted her weight back under her feet.

"I can't believe I was intimidated by you." Weiss giggled as she too broke out in laughter.

"All this time you made me so nervous!" Ruby added holding her sides as she burst into laughter too.

Looking between the girls Namine began to crack a smile "Stop laughing!" she said with a semi-serious, semi-disingenuous tone.

When the laughter didn't stop Namine found herself starting to giggle "It was pretty funny...wasn't it?"

"C'mon, lemme show you around the place." Ruby said as the elevator reached the ground floor.

"And perhaps we could go about finding you something more..." Weiss frowned looking the girl up and down "discrete to wear."

A bright blush filled Namine's face as she immediately averted her gaze downward, tugging on the edge of her dress to conceal a few more inches of her otherwise naked thighs.

* * *

"Roxas." Ozpin spoke calmly as he returned to the seat at his desk, falling back in the chair with a quiet sigh "I think I've been patient enough in regards to who you are. I've gathered bits and pieces, but now I need to ask you explain what it is that you've been keeping secret all this time."

Roxas didn't realize that his mouth had been hanging open until he went to talk and felt the dryness of his tongue "I, you- can I ask why?" he stumbled.

Ozpin's eyes had lost the playful nature they'd carried during his conversation with Namine "You take my students out of school, disappear without a trace, and bring back a stranger that I'm supposed to take in without even a word of explanation?"

Roxas's words caught in his throat as he tried to deliver an explanation, but failed in even uttering a single sound.

"And not only that," Ozpin continued "You've consistently been able to perform what can only be described as magic, it resembled Dust for a time, but that explanation only goes so far. And lastly," Ozpin paused, taking a long sip of tea to calm his nerves "The one who bore the same coat as you has escaped without a trace at the same time that these impossible Dust robberies started up."

 _Demyx?_ Roxas thought to himself with a start _but did he...?_

"Demyx got out?" Roxas asked "But I thought you took away his..."

Ozpin nodded "I didn't take them away, I merely placed a seal, but very few are capable of breaking such a seal, only one, in fact, that I know of." Ozpin's voice sounded grave as he spoke to the boy "That means that you're friend, one with abilities that I can only speculate about, is loose and tangled with some _very_ dangerous people." the way Ozpin had punctuated the word 'very' sent a chill down his spine.

"I... see." Roxas nodded averted his gaze to the floor."So... you need to know what has been going on, who I am, and what the people I've been running from are up to?"

Ozpin merely nodded, staring at Roxas with the same intensity as a wolf does it's prey.

Roxas took a deep breath before looking up and meeting the man's gaze. His lips parted, and he began to tell his tale.

* * *

 _-Beacon Academy, present-_

The group found themselves within the confines of the School's massive library, that of which Namine was taking full advantage of.

"I think you spend too much time in there." Ruby commented in an off handed fashion.

"Where?" Namine questioned looking up from her book.

"In _there_." Ruby pointed with a finger at the book in her hand. This one was titled ' _Defiled'_

"But it's so good!" the girl protested "You really should try it, it's about a young woman who loses her home but doesn't know she did because of an incident involving her attacker who is slowly revealed to be-"

"I'll-" Ruby raised a hand for the girl to stop "I'll take your word for it." she laughed awkwardly just as a hand slapped the table she was sitting at.

"Ruby!" Jaune complained "It's your turn, get a move on already!"

Ruby, Jaune, Pyrrha and Roxas had all decided to play a board game of the typical 'Remnant Domination' variety. Namine had decided to take a seat in the corner of the room nose deep in her _current_ book.

"Oh fooey, it's not like I can even win any more..." the girl grumbled as she looked at the board sulking. She limply placed a card on the table to resupply her troops and ended her turn with a wave of her hand.

"Well that doesn't mean you get to ruin it for the rest of us." Jaune said in an excited tone. His hand had been particularly lucky at the start giving him a considerable amount of troop placement as well as strong defenses which had yet to be broken.

Pyrrha planned to change that.

"I think I'll... do this." the young Amazon stated gently placing the card down for the table to read.

Jaunes's eyes grew wide "No... you wouldn't..." his look of shock transitioned to one of horror as he looked up and met Pyrrha's eyes.

"I **would.** " Pyrrha said in a playfully sinister tone as the card effectively took down Jaune's massive defenses.

Before Jaune could let out his distress a voice called out, one that they all knew "Hey team Puuuuuuurgerrrrr!"

The group turned to see Nora racing towards them with Ren struggling to keep up as his arm was gripped tightly by the girl. She stopped almost instantly directly in front of Pyrrha, leaving Ren to stumble awkwardly as he tried to catch his breath.

"You guys went any trained without us!" Nora complained stomping a foot.

"Oh um," Pyrrha began with a nervous look in her eyes "We all thought you were busy, we promise to invite you next time for sure." Pyrrha flashed a convincing smile. Behind Nora Ren mouthed the words 'Thank you' with a subtle bow. A day ago Ren had sent a message out to team Purger requesting that they 'forget' to tell Nora about the next couple sessions as, with Nora's typical workout that she forced the young man to join her in as well as the _seperate_ workout that the girl enforced on her own team, he was feeling pretty exhausted. He'd thought about simply asking Nora but knew if there was another training session to be had, Nora would be dragging him to it.

"You'd better! I really want to go up against little miss book nerd!"

An audible _GULP_ could be heard from behind the book Namine had buried her face further in.

Nora released a cheerful laugh before turning to Jaune and asking "So for sure this time right? I don't wanna miss out on any more of these things!" she cheered with a smile.

"For sure." Jaune waved his hands in surrender "I'll make sure to remind you."

Nora beamed, waving the group goodbye before turning to walk away.

"Oh!" Pyrrha chimed in "Make sure to let Blake know that she's always invited!"

Nora paused midstep, her head lowering. The girl turned and said while rubbing the back of her neck "Yeah, well... she seems to be busy with... her own private stuff most of the time."

Ren nodded with a frown "But we'll be sure to extend the offer. Thank you." he smiled a closed smile before the two were off.

* * *

 **-underground,** _ **unknown**_ **-**

Demyx rubbed the side of his arm as his ears filled with the noise of hundreds of boots slapping against damp stone and cement. All around him were members of the White Fang, hurriedly moving to complete the final preparations as they went to and from a massive steam engine train with so many trailing carts that Demyx lost count when he'd tried. They were loading wooden crates larger that Demyx was tall into each of the carts leaving Demyx to wonder what their contents were considering he hadn't been included in the plan. He barely even knew where he was. They'd transported him into what he could only consider a _really_ big cave, one so big that he could even see buildings erected within its caverns. The Nobody stood stiffly, uncertain of what he should be doing at the moment.

"Impressive, isn't it?" rang a seductive voice causing a chill to run up the Nobody's spine.

"I- uh," Cinder stepped beside the man, appearing small next to the tall man "I guess so..."

Cinder's smile was unwavering as her eyes watched the Fangs work "The plan is to commence tonight. Do you remember what your roll is?"

Demyx gulped "I- uh, I'm supposed to sit on my hands and wait on your orders... Right?"

Cinder's smile widened "Precisely." she said with a grin before stepping away from the Nobody towards where Mercury and Emerald were waiting.

Before she could ask Emerald said "Make a show that we're helping, but don't try too hard and get out once things get... _hairy._ "

Cinder nodded, running a slender hand along the girl's cheek "Well done. Make sure that nothing... _unexpected_ happens."

"Sounds good." Mercury said with crossed arms. It was then that Roman approached prompting both Emerald and Mercury to leave, disdain in their eyes.

Roman shot them a dirty look before smiling at Cinder "Well, preparations are complete. We're all ready to go."

"Everything has been checked?" Cinder spoke with a serious tone, one that suggested that if even a _single_ thing wasn't ready, there would be blood to pay.

"Checked, and double checked." the man swung his cane jovially "I made sure of it. There should be no issues on our end." he remarked with a sly grin.

Cinder's smile returned "Good." she began to approach the train, her hips swinging back and forth as her heels clicked against the ground. She placed a delicate hand against the steel frame of the engine and said let a short laugh escape her lips.

"Well then, let's **begin**."

* * *

Roxas had decided to stay late at the library, his eyes scanning over the contents of the bright computer screen as layers of text reflected off of his focused eyes. The library was mostly empty at the time, with only a rare squeak of a person's heel turning too fast or light footsteps indicating that the space of learning wasn't completely empty. His eyes momentarily drifted to one of the windows positioned across the space. It was dark outside, leading Roxas to believe that his team was most likely settling in to go to bed soon. He decided that he would probably follow suit after a little while, although there were no classes tomorrow with it being the weekend, that didn't mean he didn't value his sleep an immense amount.

Roxas went back to reading about one of the many recent Dust robberies within the city. Ever since Ozpin has disclosed that his former associate had escaped, he'd decided to take it upon himself to try and investigate and follow these strings of crimes. He hadn't been able to gather much except that the White Fang was being credited with the thefts and that these break ins were definitely the work of Demyx, there were too many instances of top of the line security systems being completely bypassed without so much as a footprint being left behind to be anyone else.

 _Hmm, I never thought to do that._

Roxas while aware of the fact that he and Demyx share the ability to access the Corridors of Darkness, he'd never thought to use it to rob places. He supposed that with the excess secrecy the Organization forced their members to practice as well as their ability to be almost anywhere...

 _That combo makes for an incredible thief._

Roxas concluded as he clicked on another link leading to an article about what some theories were on just _how_ these thefts were being achieved. Although there was little to gain from reading the article since he already knew how it was happening, it interested Roxas on how people would justify such an impossible event.

The boy's head lifted as he heard the click of heels approaching. Turning towards the sound, Roxas caught sight of Blake moving towards one of the many other Computer terminals. The boy noticed her in her typical attire, a white blouse covering her chest wrapped around a variation on a black vest that covered the majority of her midriff. Her legs were covered by thigh high stockings that met with pure white shorts leaving not an inch of skin revealed. A bow rested atop her head, bouncing as she walked as was typical for the girl, but what caught Roxas's eye was the sight of dark bags beneath the girls remarkable amber eyes.

The boy thought to wave, as the girl had yet to notice him but paused in the action, thinking it over in his head as he slowly lowered his hand. Although they'd always been friendly towards one and other, sitting at the same lunch table as well as playing an occasional game within their two groups, Roxas recognized that the two of them had never really spoken one on one. They'd always been at an arms length apart, in fact, he'd never seen the girl speak much to any of their lunch room group, her nose usually buried in a book ignoring everyone.

 _Maybe it's not a good idea to wave to her._

Roxas thought with a rye frown before second thought entered his head.

 _What's the worst that can happen?_

Roxas blinked grinning at his own internal monologue as he went to raise the hand again. Smiling, the boy waved a hand towards the girl who paused in her step as her eyes peeled towards Roxas. Their eyes met and her's quickly widened, clearly not expecting the friendly gesture. The girl merely raised a single hand in response, stiffly waving it while flashing an uncomfortable smile.

Roxas let his hand fall as the girl took a seat at a console several seats down on the opposite side of the spine with the rest of the consoles remaining empty.

 _Oh well,_ he thought to himself half expecting the girl to come and sit beside him _at least she waved._

Roxas went back to work at the computer, his fingers clicking through the cites with interest.

More than twenty minutes passed like this before Roxas cocked a head at a new story that had been posted only minutes ago. Clicking on the link Roxas startled as the loud voice of the reporter rang out through the computer's built in speakers, sounding like an explosion in contrast to the near complete silence of the library.

" _ **It's been nearly a week now since the last reported incident regarding the White Fang. Police are speculative about the nature of the radical group's lack of activity and are scratching their heads in resp-**_ "

Roxas found the mute option in mere seconds, a bright flush rushing through his cheeks as he quickly looked up mouthing an apologetic 'sorry' towards the on staff librarian towards the entrance of the library, an elderly woman with graying hair tied in a bun and thin metallic spectacles covering blue eyes . She merely rolled her eyes and returned her attention to a set of forms resting on her desk. As his eyes returned to his screen, he caught Blake looking over her monitor towards him with a raised eyebrow, his eyes met hers in a short second and his forehead furrowed, questioning the look. Roxas momentarily wondered if she expected an apology as well, but the look she was shooting him wasn't one of annoyance, it was more a look of surprise. After a few seconds the girl turned away, her eyes reflecting the gleam of the bright screen as her pupils poured over the words of whatever website she was looking into.

Roxas soon returned to his own research, dismissing the odd look to the back of his mind as he continued to read through the rest of what the update had to offer. Only a few minutes passed before a familiar reporter's voice cut through the air like a knife through butter.

" _ **It's been nearly a week now since the last reported incident regarding the White Fang. Police are speculative about the nature of the radical group's lack of activity an-"**_

Blake's face was white as porcelain as her hands moved swifter than Roxas's had, quieting the blaring noise. This time it was Blake's turn to look towards the librarian apologetically. The woman closed a book she'd been checking in with unnecessary force, causing the noise of the slam to echo against the walls of the library, staring down Blake the entire time as she did so effectively getting her point across.

Blake turned back to her screen but paused when she noticed Roxas staring over at her with an inquisitive expression. Their eyes met, and a look of realization washed over their faces as their eyes peeled in unison.

 _We're looking up the same thing. We're looking at the same news report._

Roxas paused as he noticed the girl rise from her chair and begin to approach his terminal.

 _But why?_

* * *

 _-Commercial District: Vale-_

A young man with a mess of sandy blond hair and sharp brown eyes was laughing as a girl with long, beautiful black hair clung to his arm in an effort to keep herself steady on her feet. Both of their faces were redder than usual suggesting a night of a little too much fun. It had been their first date together, but the man had had a blast for the entire night, and he gathered from the way she was clinging to his arm smiling, she'd felt the same way. His name was Flaxen, hers was Lapis, and they each knew that they were completely wasted.

"So wa-wait wait," Flaxen slurred trying to clear his mind enough to form a question "You're telling, erp-" the man had to pause with a hand to his mouth as he felt something that he'd enjoyed earlier in the night trying to re-introduce itself to the couple.

"You er-kay?" Lapis asked, her speech equally slurred as she stared up at the man with a confused expression.

Looking down at the beautiful girl staring up at him with a concern the man felt a smile grow on his face "Just fine beautiful, just enjoyed myself a little too much I think."

The girl giggled as she let her gaze return to the street ahead "Good, Cuz I dunno if I could make the walk without you herrrre." she paused to let out a small burp "Oop, scuse me, I mean, it feels like the ground is shaking, I'm pretty sure I overdid it a bit."

Lapis continued to giggle lightly at nothing in particular as Flaxen paused with a furrowed brow. His eyes went to his feet as he bore a perplexed expression.

"Wait... I think I, feel it too." he said, his confusion sobering him up for a second.

"Huh?" The woman asked looking up at him as if he'd just spoken another language.

"The shaking." the man repeated as the soles of his shoes began to vibrate "I feel it too."

The two looked at each other puzzled before their eyes both went to the tiled walkway.

"It feels like a..." the man struggled to find the word.

"It feels like a train." Lapis finished.

"Like a subway." Flaxen confirmed with a nod.

"Does..." the woman paused, scratching her head "Does Vale have a subway here?"

The man, having lived there for many years shook his head "I don't think so, I don't remember there being a-"

Suddenly the world went completely white, Flaxen felt as if he was floating for several seconds, his ears rang loudly, as all other noises fell away. This floating sensation came to an abrupt halt as a sharp pain in the side of his thigh brought him back to reality.

"GAH!" he called out in pain as his hands went to where a sharp stabbing sensation flared in his leg. He blinked his eyes, his vision slowly readjusting to the darkness after such a blinding light. As he did this he felt his hands wet with a thick wet liquid which had begun to soak his pants leg through. The air was thick with the scent of copper as he pulled his hand back from the pain in his leg and looked down, his expression darkened as it returned coated with blood.

"L-Lapis?" he croaked the girl's name as his head began to turn back and forth as if on a swivel. His head stopped as his eyes fell on a massive gaping hole with a circumference of at least 10 feet only a few feet away, with debris scattered everywhere from whatever caused what Flaxen's cloudy mind was beginning to realize must have been an explosion.

He continued to look about the space, noticing the broken and cracked road and scattered broken tiles before his gaze focused on the form of the girl laying on her side limply on the other side of the hole. He grunted as he attempted to push himself to his feet, but called out in pain as he placed weight on his injured leg. Crumpling back to the ground he cursed under his breath before raising his head and beginning to crawl on his elbows towards the girl, he needed to make sure she was alright.

As he moved past the hole he looked inside, trying to determine what had caused the explosion, a gas line? Maybe a water line? The man shook his head dismissing the line of thought, he didn't know enough about construction to even begin to come to any conclusions.

The man paused as he heard a strange noise come from within the hole, like a grumble, or maybe... a growl?

Flaxen peeled his eyes as he tried to stare through the darkness of the hole without much success, the darkness was too thick for his eyes to pierce. After a moment longer he lowered his ear towards the hole trying to search for the noise a second time.

After several more seconds of silence he shook his head, realizing that he didn't have time for this.

 _Lapis could be dying, I need to get to her now._

The man continued his struggled efforts to reach the young woman, and after a short few seconds, he found himself at her side as he used a bloody hand to roll her over onto her back. Concern washed over his features as he looked at the girl. It was clear from the blood running down the side of her face that she'd hit her head in the explosion, her eyes closed in a tight grimace. Flaxen lower his ear to the girl's lips and after a few short seconds breathed a sigh of relief.

"S-she's still breathing... thank-" Flaxen paused as the noise he'd heard before echoed from the hole a second time, but this time it was much louder, and Flaxen could tell this time it was _definitely_ a growl.

His face went white with fear as his foggy mind began to place the growl.

"No...no,no." he mumbled as his hand began to work at his pockets trying to pull out his scroll.

His fingers began to fumble with the device as he mumbled "Please, please still work come on!"

His face lit up as the Scroll flashed to life, the screen was cracked, but still functional. His fingers moved quickly as he dialed the emergency number.

It rang only once before a voice asked "Hello? What's your emergency?"

The man felt panic rise in his chest as what could only could be interpreted as heavy footsteps echoed from the hole coming closer as they did "I need a ambulance as soon as possible! Send it to 144 North Ebony road please move quickly I don't know how safe we are here." his voice carried with it a quiet urgency as he whispered.

He heard the quick typing of keys before the voice on the other end said "Understood, an ambulance and police are on their way now. It shouldn't be more than ten minutes, are you able to tell me what's going on?"

Relief washed over his face at the man's words. Less than ten minutes until help came. A smile rose from his cheeks as he began to explain "Me and my date were walking down this road and suddenly a huge explosion came from right beneath us. There's this massive hole now and-" Flaxen's voice trailed off suddenly, his smile fading as his eyes grew wide with terror.

"Sir? Sir are you there?" the voice on the other end asked with concern.

Staring back at him from within the darkness of the hole were two glowing beady yellow eyes, and Flaxen realized then that ten minutes would be far too late for help to arrive.

'

* * *

 ** _AN:_**

 _Heeeeey guuuuuyss guess whosss baaaaaack?_

 _yeah I've been gone for a long time and I imagine there are many of you who are wondering where I've been for about 3 months now hahaha. I've been fine more or less, some financial troubles, some emotional, but fret not your favorite Kh crossover story is still alive and well(it simply went into a coma for a short time). In all seriousness I went through something of a slump, or perhaps a collapse would be a better word when it comes to writing. I simply had 0 drive to continue, or even edit a chapter. This chapter was more or less done for so long now. I stared at it in my drive every time I logged on to work on a resume or save a document, and could never bring myself to do it. My motivation was completely gone. I honestly believed that I would never write for this story again, and thought about it frequently._

 _But alas, that didn't happen. And I'm back, hopefully for a while (but seeing as I have a LOT of spare time on my hands, odds are writing can be more frequent from now on) I'll continue to respond to reviews via pms and have been going through my list of pm's responding to those of you I left on read for so long. Thank you for those of you who are still around to support the story. I'll be working on the next chapter tomorrow and see how_ _quickly i can get it done._

 _Thank you all for your support_

 _Ps: please no spoilers for KH3! I know that it just came out and thats a big deal for the KH community but I'm still just on my first play through (I like to play on proud mode) and will attempt to complete it in a timely fashion!_


	29. Chapter 29: The Breach

AN: What what? Another massive update within the same week? Can this truly be happening? Your eyes don't deceive you! It's really here! I hope you all enjoy!

* * *

"Why are you researching the White Fang?" She stood with crossed arms, her gaze piercing as she stared him down with a resolute frown.

"I- uh," The boy turned his attention back to his screen where multiple tabs had been opened, each with a distinct title about the White Fang's most recent exploits.

Welp, deniability is out the question.

He instantly thought as he paused, trying to find an answer to her question. His talk with Ozpin had lead to the headmaster requesting that Roxas not reveal what they'd talked about to anyone not already aware of the situation. This left a rye frown on Roxas's lips as he stared back at the darkly dressed girl.

"I took an interest in them. It sounded like they were back at it. It's been all over the News." he paused to look at his screen "Thought I'd look it up, you know, being a Huntsman and all.

Blake's eyes peeled "Yeah no. I don't believe that for a second. An interested person would have looked up one or two News sources, not-" she paused to count all the tabs opened on his screen "Seven, So stop trying to cover it up. I want to know why you've been digging into this so much."

Roxas raised an eyebrow at the girl, taking a moment to question why she was so invested in his interest the the radical group.

"What's it to you?" he fired back rising from his seat "I'm allowed to look this stuff up right? There's nothing saying I cant!" his voice raised, annoyed that he was being treated as if he'd just been caught doing something wrong.

They're heads turned as an extremely annoyed Librarian cleared her throat, giving the two of them looks that would have killed on the spot if that had been possible.

Roxas spoke in a half whisper as he turned his gaze back to Blake who was standing only a foot away, glaring back at him defiantly "Besides, you were looking at the same site. Why don't you tell me why you've been looking into them yourself huh?"

Blake scowled, opening her mouth to respond before pausing and scowling again giving the boy a dismissive look "Whatever." she spoke coldly as she turned and began to walk back towards her console.

Roxas watched her go, forehead creased as he tried to figure out what had just happened. He sighed before reaching out a hand, intending to try and smooth things out between them before he felt the ground beneath his feet begin to rumble.

Simultaneously, a series of loud BOOMS could be heard off in the distance, so many in fact that Roxas lost count with how rapidly they came one after another. If he hadn't known better, he would have thought the sounds to be fireworks.

Both Roxas and Blake turned their heads in the direction of the startling noise before turning to stare at each other with concerned expressions.

"What was-" Blake started before another noise cut her off. A look of worry spread on their faces as emergency sirens began to blare, first distantly all the way out from Vale, then within the very school itself, alerting everyone within Beacon.

Blake shot a terrified look towards Roxas who returned it.

"Get to your team." Roxas said gravely as he felt his feet work beneath him, propelling him towards the door in a flat sprint as he raced down the hallways. Blake was quickly at his side, matching his pace as she moved.

"What's happening?" she asked in between breaths of air.

"I don't know." Roxas admitted "But I know it's nothing good."

Finally the two reached a dividing hallway which they separated, giving each other a knowing nod as they parted and raced towards their respective teams.

Roxas considered summoning a Dark Corridor to reach his team faster now that he was separated from Blake, but quickly decided against it as a flood of students began to stick their heads out from their dorms with each wearing confused or concerned expressions.

Roxas reached the door of his dorm a minute later, lightly panting as he swung the door open without hesitation. To his relief he saw that his team was already getting ready. Ruby had already changed into her battle skirt and was quickly lacing her combat boots. Pyrrha was strapping her bracers to her forearms as Jaune pulled on his chest plate, his hair disheveled.

Their heads lifted as Roxas swung the door open, their eyes flashing surprise, and then worry.

Jaune was the first to speak up "What's going on? What's the emergency siren for?"

Roxas parted his lips to explain that he didn't know when almost on cue Ozpin's voice sounded out from the intercom.

"All able body students are to report to the helipad. Vale is currently overwhelmed by Grimm and needs all they can to support them. Carriers will be arriving shortly so be prepared, and most of all, be careful."

The group turned to each other with wide eyes and shocked expressions.

"Vale is being overwhelmed?" Pyrrha asked disbelievingly "But how would they have been able to get through-"

"I thought it was safe down there?" Ruby cut her teammate off, looking wildly between the group.

Suddenly Jaune called out "That doesn't matter right now!" his voice sounded confident and strong "What matters right now is that we make it the the helipad so that we can get down there as soon as possible and help the people down there."

Ruby, Pyrrha and Roxas all collectively shot surprised looks towards Jaune, eyebrows raised at his command.

"What are you all waiting for?" Jaune asked in a serious tone "Let's go!"

At the snap of his voice the group shot into action, their feet thumping against the floor as they rushed out and into the now sea of students filling the hallway. Before they could get very far however, Roxas felt a hand on his should spinning him around.

To his surprise, the boy saw Ozpin staring down at him with the utmost intensity.

"Roxas. I think you and I both know that a helicopter is something you're group can do without."

Roxas turned his head as Yang and the rest of team Rainbow suddenly appeared at their side, Yang met Roxas's eyes with a knowing look.

"But, you said-" Roxas began recalling their talk about him concealing his magic.

Ozpin raised a hand, cutting him off "I know what I said, listen to what I'm saying now. Bring whoever already knows with you. Go to one of these locations." as he spoke he pushed what appeared to be a map into the boy's hands "In emergency situations, the people of Vale have been ordered to evacuate to these marked shelters. Vale's military force has already been deployed to protect these areas, but it appears that even they are being overwhelmed."

Just then the faces of Weiss and Naminé pulled up alongside Yang's group, appeared worried and disheveled, but ready.

Roxas looked back to the headmaster, his lips forming a thin line before nodding with an intense expression.

"Understood. Which location needs us the most?"

"The upper North East shelter. They were the most unprepared for the attack."

Roxas nodded before turning on his heels and running against the current of students as he pushed back towards their room.

The two teams bore confused looks before Ruby started after the boy "C'mon! Follow Roxas! We have a plan!"

Their feet quickly fell into motion, following Roxas the best they could as a sea of students continued to push against them. After a minute, they found their way into team Purger's dorm room where Ruby quickly locked the door behind them.

"Alright we don't have a lot of time and you three are going to be nervous so we need to skip that part." Roxas spoke with an urgency pointing to Blake, Nora and Ren.

Their faces read confusion at being pointed out.

"What do you-"

Ren began but was cut off as Roxas said "No time to explain. Just trust me, everyone here has gone through it." as he said the last word he raised a hand towards the back wall. A moment later deep black flames engulfed the area with a swirling center of purple.

Roxas turned back to look at the expressions of team Rainbow. Yang looked unfazed having seen this multiple times before, her arms crossed with a serious, all business expression.

Nora's face bore an expression of wonder, her eyes twinkling as her mouth made an O shape. Ren looked mildly concerned as he stared at the black flames, as if he were worried that the room would catch fire. Blakes eyes were wide, her pupils barely the size of peas as she studied the flames.

"What is-" Nora began before Yang cut her off, moving towards Roxas with purpose.

"Where does this lead to?" She asked with a sense of urgency.

"Here." Roxas spoke flatly, pointing to a point on the map that had been circled in red ink. There were several other circles made on the map of Vale's commercial district, but this one was the furthest North East that the city had to offer, almost at the very corner of the entire map.

She nodded with a frown before turning to the rest of her team "Alright, let's head out." she said stiffly before racing into the flames.

"Yang no!" Nora shouted raising a hand to stop her, but the moment the blonde touched the flames, she vanished.

"This is going to be the real deal. Are you ready for this?" Weiss was asked Naminé in the corner of the room, holding her two hands together in an effort to calm the girl. Naminé's demeanor was calm, but her eyes gave the girl away, showing the true fear she had been trying to conceal. Roxas frowned at this. The girl hadn't gotten any real training out in the field aside from a few stray Grimm that decided to intrude on their training sessions.

The blonde nodded in defiance of her fear "I'm ready. Let's do this." she said stubbornly before releasing Weiss's hands and walking swiftly towards the Corridor of Darkness. She stepped through without hesitation, and Weiss with a worried expression followed soon after.

Pyrrha and Jaune had been shown the portals before during training sessions upon Ruby's insistence that their team shouldn't have to keep secrets from one and other. This meant that the two were less awestruck than that of team Rainbow, but at the same time their expressions read 'uneasy'.

"Alright team." Jaune said trying to sound confident, but his eyes held the same fear that Naminé's had "Let's move. They can't handle everything by themselves." Team Purger began to move as a group towards the portal before Roxas paused, turning to look at the remainders of team Rainbow.

"It's safe." he said calmly motioning towards the corridor "I promise to explain later. But right now we don't have the time."

He stepped through.

When he did he was met with what could only be effectively called a war zone. Gun Fire split the air with such a consistency that Roxas could barely make out the sounds of screams and the roars of Grimm. His eyes met with the beady glowing eyes of a Beowulf charging his direction. With a calm scowl Roxas sidestepped the wild swipe of a claw before summoning his Oathkeeper and shoving it deep into the creature's sternum. The beast gasped, its body shuttering before it grew limp and faded away. Roxas scanned the area around them, his mouth in a tight thin line. He could see smoke rising in various locations throughout the city, vehicles were on their sides and cement was cracked in multiple places. He could see Vale Soldiers on one knee aiming down their sights as what could only be considered as an army of Grimm charged towards them. The road was relatively narrow, capable of allowing only two lanes of traffic at most, but it was entirely full from wall to wall with Grimm.

The boy turned his head and saw that Yang had already engaged a small fleet of Ursa, her fists pounding away rapidly at the Grimm's face as she fired shot after shot. Weiss was darting throughout the wave of Grimm, stabbing through any Grimm unfortunate enough to stand in her path. Naminé had begun to fire Dust explosion after Dust explosion, littering the field of Grimm with a barrage of flame.

Roxas looked over his shoulder and saw what they were protecting. What looked to be a 20 by 20 tunnel that led down and underground was currently filled to the brim with people and Faunas alike urgently attempting to push their way through and down to the emergency shelter. Soldiers of Beacon were attempting to wave them through, reminding them not to panic and trying to order them into a general formation to make the transition easier.

Roxas frowned, he could see the whites of each person whenever they would look back towards the chaos of Grimm and Huntsmans fighting. They were terrified, Roxas doubted that a one of them would be able to think clearly enough to make a formation into the Shelter.

He heard footsteps behind him and turned his head, seeing Nora, Ren, and Blake each with wild eyes

"That..." Nora said before her lips curled into a delighted smile "Was awesome!" she shouted before grabbing onto Ren's wrist "C'mon! We got Grimm to beat up!" she raced past Roxas with Ren stumbling behind her, calling out a "Thanks for the ride!" as she passed him.

Roxas allowed the corridor to close before turning his attention back to Blake, who was standing still studying him with a deep gaze. It was as if her mind was calculating something, putting pieces of a puzzle back together...

"You have questions but-" he began trying to urge her that this wasn't the time only to have his words cut off.

"I have answers." The girl responded coldly as her feet began to carry her towards the battle "And I'll have more later." she said meeting his eye. He could tell that this was not a request, it was an order.

"Reinforcements! Thank God reinforcements!" Called out one of the few remaining soldiers baring the symbol of Vale on his chest. Roxas's eyes fell on the man for a moment before noticing all the other soldiers with their backs against flipped cars or anything that they could find to lean against. Many were limp, slumped to the ground and motionless. Roxas winced when his gaze fell on one of these, others were clutching their midsection or legs, disoriented as another soldier with a cross on his arm did his best to attend to the injured.

This needs to end NOW.

The boy turned his head back towards the oncoming wave of Grimm and searched within himself, drawing out the power he held in his core as he summoned the Oblivion to his other hand. He closed his eyes as he felt himself grip the light within, and then release it.

His eyes flashed open as his body was enveloped in a bright white aura, invigorating his body and mind before he darted forward, pushing through the massive hoard of grim as if they were made of paper. His two blades each surrounded by light easily passed through the Grimm with each motion, carving out a decent chunk before he reached what he presumed was the center of the army.

He paused for only a moment, for only as long as it took for him to raise both keyblades above his head before bringing them down with a mighty force that struck the ground with a BANG.

Immediately light shot out from Roxas in all directions, piercing through the Grimm as if they were a sidewalk shadow. After a moment of bright, blinding light that illuminated the street as if the sun were still out, the Grimm were gone. The only remnants of their existence being the small piles of black dust scattered across the road.

Roxas was breathing heavily after this with a sweat running down the side of his face. He allowed the white flame around him to dissipate as he took in a deep breath to calm his body.

Well,that sure took it out of me...

He thought to himself just as he heard "Pfft, what a show off." Yang sneered as she stepped over to the boy "Good job," she said patting him on his back.

Roxas grinned at her "Thanks."

"Althooouugh." Yang added Quickly "Could ya maybe wait for just a little while longer next time the city has a massive Grimm attack? I was just starting to have fun." she said with a coy grin.

Roxas returned her expression "I'll try to remem-"

"Not to be a party pooper." Pyrrha's voice suddenly cut in, her eyes widening as she stared down the road "But you may just get you wish yet Yang." she said pointing out towards where the road turned out of sight.

Roxas turned and his eyes widened as he saw what she was looking at. Storming down the road towards them was an equally dense flood of Grimm, each looking as ravenous and deadly as the last.

"Well then." Yang said with a tight face of determination "Let's not keep our new guests waiting." before charging forward to meet the Grimm. Ruby was charging after her soon after, followed by Jaune and Pyrrha and then the rest of team Rainbow.

Roxas shook himself out of his surprised stupor before his feet began to move on their own and he found himself also charging towards the new hoard of Grimm.

Something told the boy that this battle wasn't going to be over anytime soon.

* * *

-Twenty minutes later-

Ozpin's face was grim as the sound of a helicopter's blades filled his ears. He stood on the side of the open bay door as it flew, one hand holding onto the rail above his head, the other resting on his cane. His eyes fell on the scene of the falling city. It's buildings crumbling as its people cried out in anguish, and pain.

This carrier contained the final group of Beacon's finest. He turned his head to look at them. Many of their faces were white with worry, fearful expressions solidifying on their faces. He even caught a few of the first years shaking in fright. They'd trained their lives away for an event like this, but many of them had yet to actually go out into the field, and he could see it.

Having already distributed the rest of his students out to the various other shelters located throughout the city, this group was headed to a shelter positioned South east where the first of the explosions had erupted. From what he'd been told of the night thus far, it seemed that a series of explosions across the city had erupted from underground leaving massive fissures which spilled Grimm by the hundreds into the Vale across various points.

Who would want something like this?

Although his mind had processed the thought, he'd already known the answer when he'd asked.

His face bore a scowl as a single name came to his mind before his thoughts were interrupted by the radio he's attached to his belt.

"-Bzz- need reinforcements -bzzzch- North West Corner- Bzzst- Held up at the stadium -Bzz- never reached the-"

The transmission cut out.

Never reached the Shelter?

Ozpin's scowl grew deeper as he spun around, his face looking over the many youthful faces. The Southeast corner needed as many reinforcements as they could get from the distress and urgency of their request, Ozpin's mind raced with who he could send to help their cause when suddenly-

"We can cover that." Said a feminine voice, and one he knew well.

He turned his head with a frown as Coco Adel, the leader of team Coffee stepped forward, the rest of her team soon rising to their feet having been sitting on one of the benches.

As they rose, Ozpin looked them over, making a mental evaluation of each member as he did so.

First was Coco Adel, a slightly over confident young woman with the skill to back it up. She always wore the most up to date styles of fashion, with this day apparently calling for short, dark brown hair with wavy locks on one side matching with her long, cocoa-colored shirt with a dark brown waist cincher and dark brown trousers with ribbons on her left side. She bore what appeared to be a simple hand back casually hung on her shoulder, but Ozpin knew that it was far more than that.

Next was Fox Alistair, a silent individual who often decided to let his fists speak over his words, in those regards, he was likely the most articulate member of the team. His hair was a fiery dark red that matched the color of his vest. Coating his fists were two red gauntlets that parted into a long blades, starting at his forearm and running as long as the tip of his shoulder. The boy was deadly with these weapons, and the team knew it.

Velvet Scarlatina was the most timid of the team, but that timid nature did not mean that she was weak by any regard. Her brown bunny-like ears atop long brown haired that stretched to her waist displayed her faunus heritage proudly. She wore her typical fighting attire, a brown shirt with bronze shoulder pads and bracers along with brown shorts over black form fitting tights. Resting against the lowest part of her back was a simple, unassuming brown box that wouldn't have drawn any amount of attention if you were one of the many who did not know what lay within it.

Last was Yatsuhashi Daichi, a tall and strong young man with simple short cut black hair and an otherwise undefined expression. His choice of attire was relatively simple with his top consisting of only a long sleeve green robe over a black muscle shirt. His pants were a simple brown with a 5-layer sode resting on his left shoulder. His weapon of choice was as one might guess, simple, a sword in its nature, but larger than any broad sword that one might imagine. It was long, longer than most students as well as almost as long as himself, almost. Its flat was a rustic brown copper as its edges bore a golden sheen, the blade itself was slightly curved, ending in a reversed barb-like hook.

Ozpin's face grew concerned, his lips parted, but coco was quick to cut him off before he could refuse "C'mon now you know us, we've fought worse." Ozpin had doubts about that statement, by the reports and what he could see below, this was the largest Grimm attack since the fall of Vales expansion.

The woman continued, her confident smile unwavering from her lips "Besides, we only have to hold out till the rescue choppers touch down and pick everyone up right? That should be easy." she stressed the final word by flashing a grin as she made a motion with her hand that dismissed the task entirely.

What she had said was true. Not long after the initial attacks were called in as well as the magnitude of the assault, it was ordered that the people of the Commercial district were to be evacuated to the safer districts of Vale. Temporary homes were already being made for the survivors of the attack within the industrial and Agricultural districts. Those with family in towards the upper North or within the residential district were planned to be rerouted there, at least until the Grimm infestation was properly taken care of.

Ozpin released a conflicted sigh "I can't say that you are wrong Coco Adel. You'll have to hold out for some time as the carriers that we do have are still preoccupied with other locations. Are you okay with this?"

Coco smiled "Do you think I'd be offering if I wasn't?"

Ozpin smiled too, the girl's personality had a charm to it that put him at ease "And the rest of you are prepared for what is to come?"

A quiet nod from Fox.

"Yes sir." Spoke out Yatsuhashi.

"I think we'll do just fine professor." Velvet said with a confident grin. He knew pairing the typically timid girl with the likes of Coco had been a good idea.

"Well then, in that case, I suggest jumping now." he said with a sly grin.

"Sorry?" Velvet responded with a tilt of her head, her bunny ears flopping to one side.

"We are flying over the stadium now." His face turned serious "Be careful, and save everyone that you can, but do your best not to put yourselves in danger in doing so, I wouldn't want-" he paused as a hand fell onto his shoulder.

Coco, now standing at the edge of the opening peered over her designer sunglasses "Come now Ozpin, you should know us by now." she grinned at the man "We're always careful."

A snort could be heard from her team "No we're not." Yatsuhashi said with a chuckle.

Coco shot the swordsman a dirty look before meeting Ozpin's eye again "Well," she shrugged "We always come back alive." as she said that she released a small laugh before leaping out of the plane. Before another word could be said, Fox, Velvet, and Yatsuhashi were all out of the plane, diving towards the chaos of gun fire and roars below.

Ozpin's eyes watched them as they descended, hoping that she was right.

* * *

Roxas gasped for air as a bead of sweat slipped into his eye. He scowled, wiping at his eye with the back of his hand as Ruby came up to him.

"Do you think that was the last of em?" she asked with a strained expression, appearing equally exhausted.

"I doubt it." Roxas admitted as he straightened his back "But that might have bought us a few minutes to relax. Use them wisely." he'd been talking about the surge of light he'd been using since the start of the battle to wipe away the fleet of Beowolves, Ursa, and all other variety of Grimm that dared to charge their direction. He'd wanted to use them sparingly, as the strain on his body required to wipe out an entire road full of Grimm was nothing to ignore, but alas he'd been forced to use the tactic three times already, with this being the fourth.

The moment the words left his lips he found himself falling backwards before his butt hit the asphalt of the now severely broken road. It felt good to be off his feet, even if only for a minute. His head turned and he saw the rest of the gang go through the same motions. Yang was completely sprawled out on the sidewalk, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Even from where he was sitting Roxas could see the droplets of sweat running down her arms and thighs. The girl had been pushing herself arguably harder than all the others as she took it upon herself to face against any Grimm that was larger that the normal Variety.

Pyrrha had too been pushing herself far past that of her peers, her genuine expertise at battle being invaluable at times as each motion of her spear and shield brought with it death for the Grimm. She was sitting with Jaune a short distance away, the two looked drained, but otherwise unharmed for the most part.

Naminé and Weiss were sitting with the rest of team Rainbow as Nora, having somehow stored snacks somewhere on her person began to share with the group. Her face still bore its usual smile, but Roxas could see exhaustion behind her eyes. As Roxas looked over the group, his eyes met with Blake's, who was casting a serious gaze his direction. The boy frowned at this as he held her gaze, he could tell that she had more questions then seemingly any of the others, but now wasn't the time, and he'd purposely made sure he was a good distance away whenever they would get these short breaks from the action for that reason.

His attention was pulled away from the girl as Ruby plopped down beside him, her corset and tights were sticking to her body with sweat and Roxas found himself staring, but unsure why.

"Jeez this has been a trial." She said crossing her legs and resting her weight on her elbows as she laid back.

Roxas pulled his eyes away from the girl, deciding to focus on turn in the road ahead blocked by buildings. He knew that more were coming, so it was wise not to be taken by surprise.

"Yeah it really has." Roxas confirmed.

"But hey at least we're getting some real action now huh?" She said with a bright smile.

Roxas shot her a strange look wearing a playful half smile "I guess that's one way to look at it."

Ruby laughed falling back and sprawling out "I hope that was the last of em." she said with a tired yawn before shouting out "How long has it been?!"

It was Pyrrha's voice that called back "one hour and ten minutes!"

"Ugggghh." Ruby spoke with a grimace to her tone.

The two grew quiet, as they enjoyed the few minutes of relaxation that they had.

"The stars she are beautiful tonight..." Ruby murmured, her silver eyes glazing over as she looked out into the night.

Roxas's lips parted to respond but heard two sets of heels stepping towards them. Turning, he saw Weiss approaching with Naminé shortly behind her. The girl had become Weiss's shadow of late, feeling particularly close to her teammate.

Weiss's eyes were looking Roxas over with concern "How are you feeling?" she asked with a rye smile.

"Pretty tired." The boy admitted.

"How many of those light bombs do you have left in you?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Roxas paused at her question, tilting his head he repeated "Light bombs?"

Naminé beamed "It was my idea to call them that." she frowned "Is it a bad name?"

Roxas met the girl's eyes, her expression pleading for approval. Although she had come far over her limited time at Beacon, her timid past self reared its head every now and again.

He smiled "I like the name. 'Light bomb' has a nice ring to it." in truth he'd not come up with a name for the majority of his attacks. He made a note to change that later.

She smiled at his comment.

Weiss met his eye again as she stated "I think you should rest." with a stern expression.

"Huh?" Roxas's brow furrowed "I am resting." he said with a joking smile.

Weiss returned the smile rolling her eyes "Those light bombs have been taking it out of you, we've been able to tell." she said motioning to herself and Naminé.

"Oh it's not so bad." he said making a dismissive gesture.

Weiss and Naminé shot a worried look towards each other before returning their gaze to the boy "We want you to stay out of the next wave." she spoke sternly.

Roxas's mouth gaped as his forehead creased "But I-"

"In all honesty..." Ruby began cutting him off "I kinda agree with Weiss and Naminé here. You've been using that, uh, 'light bomb' thing as well as fighting just as hard as the rest of us." she wiped her brow with her forearm "And I'm utterly exhausted," she said with a smile before her expression turned serious "So I can only imagine what you're going through."

"Exactly my point." Weiss said matter-of-factly "If you keep going like this, you're going to collapse."

Roxas frowned at this comment, his face registering offense "I'm not going to collapse any time soon I can tell you that." he said as he rose to his feet, doing his best to hide the fact that his legs were still shaking "I'm fine." he said stubbornly with crossed arms.

Weiss sighed shaking her head "Look, we all know that you're stronger than the rest of us." she said begrudgingly "There's not a doubt in my mind about that, but... you're always pushing yourself so hard, and every person has their breaking point."

Roxas paused at this comment, looking into as his inner mind reviewing the storage of energy he still held. He had to admit, it was looking pretty low.

He sighed "Fine. But if things start to get hairy, I'm jumping back in."

Weiss smiled, he saw that Ruby and Naminé were smiling too "Good." Weiss spoke cheerfully "And don't worry, you're not the only one being singled out. With all this fighting, I'm going to start a rotation for people to take longer breaks than the one that your 'light bombs' have been providing."

The boy merely nodded as he began to walk towards the entrance of the shelter tunnel where groups of the injured were huddled and waiting, for what? He hadn't a clue.

He had just reached the entrance, which had been closed and gated, but paused as an unexpected noise began to fill his ears.

"Is that-" Jaune began.

"A helicopter?" Pyrrha finished. The whole group looked up to see what was in fact a large carrier descending on the road. It landed swiftly, and to their collective surprise, it was Professor Ozpin hanging out of the side. He stepped off the aircraft casually as his eyes looked over the battlefield.

"I'm glad to see that everything has been going smoothly."

* * *

"WOOOOOOO!" Coco's mouth made an O as she felt the rattle of her mini gun within the grips of her fingers. It's multiple barrels spun so fast that they blurred into one continuous image as bullets pumped from the machine, picking the Grimm apart as they charged their way towards her without a hope of reaching her.

Turning her head, she saw Fox punching an outstretched claw meant for his neck before delivering a second fist into the creature's ribcage. After a swiftly delivered kick to it's chin and a piercing elbow strike, the Ursa fell to the ground limp and dead.

She turned to look on her other side and saw Yatsuhashi with his blade raised above his head, his arms tense like a metal spring ready to bounce. He waited, for one...two... three seconds as a swarm of beowolves and smaller Ursa rushed towards him, their strategy seemingly to be to overwhelm the Huntsman before he had time to react to all of them.

Coco's grin couldn't be wider.

"RRRRAAAAAHHHH!" Yatsuhashi roared as at the very last second he brought his weapon down in front of him with a force that tore through the cement with a mighty BOOM.

The resulting crater sent sharp shrapnel pieces of cement into the coming swarm which dropped many of the group swiftly. The few who remained were quickly divided in two as Yatsuhashi brought his blade to his side before cutting horizontally through the rest.

"Keep it up boys!" She called out with pride as the two continued to decimate the oncoming waves of Grimm.

"Hey!" Shouted the offended voice of Velvet as she leapt through the air with what appeared to be a blue spectral version of the Crescent Rose. She came down planting both feet into the face of a mighty looking King Taijitu before stabbing the Scythe into the back of the Snake's neck. The Grimm snarled in pain, swinging its head back and forth as it attempted to shake the girl off, but Velvet held on tight to the Crescent Rose with a rye smile. A moment later, a sniper shot range out, resulting in a massive gash running from the back of the snake's head to the tip of the Grimm's mouth. Velvet rode the corpse down with a quiet 'weeeeeee!'.

"Sorry!" Coco corrected impressed with the girl's mastery of the weapons she'd been using in her box. Being able to replicate another Huntsman or Huntress's weapon in itself was an impressive feat, being able to replicate all of them? That in itself seemed impossible to Coco, but somehow, someway, her team member had managed to figure it out.

They'd been fighting for a little more than 30 minutes now and Coco was having a blast of a time as she continued to mow row after row of Grimm. They had strategically positioned themselves just outside of the coliseum acting as guards to the large four adjacent entrances meant to allow for easy flow of the audience to the stands. Most stadiums typically had their entrances on four sides of the structure to facilitate a more spread out distribution of people flooding into the building, to the relief of team Coffee, this stadium had been designed that there was only one main entrance with four large arches spread out enough for the flood of people that typically swarmed during events. This meant that the team was able to stay together guarding a single point, at the same time though came the difficulty of just how large the single entrance was, making it a tedious job to ensure not even a single Grimm slipped by. She'd originally scowled at the flood of people who had chosen a stadium of all places to hold up in, she'd understood that the closest proper shelter was too far for any of them to make it, but this felt poorly planned, hell, even a supermarket could have made a better place to hold out in. This place was large with a huge entrance and an open ceiling to boot. Thankfully they hadn't seen any flying variants of Grimm, but if some had appeared... Coco didn't want to think about it.

Set a horde of scarred civilians to make important decisions and this is what you get...

There was a sudden crash beside her and Coco raised an eyebrow as a disgruntled looking Fox pushed himself to his feet, a gleam of sweat coating his entire body. His eyes shot daggers towards a particularly sturdy looking Death stalker coming their direction.

"You need help there big boy?" she asked teasingly shooting the young man a glance. Fox returned her gaze with a shake of his head before rushing back towards the Grimm. She watched as he went, her eyes wandering to the lower region of his back as a devilish grin slowly rose to her lips.

Man does he have a nice-

Before she had time to finish her thought she realized that her mini-gun, which had been producing an otherwise constant stream of noise, was now producing nothing more that harmless clicks of an empty chamber.

"Damn it!" she swore under her breath as a lucky Beowolf was able to finally reach her. The girl reared her head back as a set of claws swiped at her face. Scowling, Her minigun swiftly transformed back into the handbag she so typically carried with her and she swung the purse upward with such a force that when it struck the Grimm's jaw the creature was sent flying away.

The next set of Grimm were dispatched in a similar manner as the first before Coco eventually managed to get enough space to convert her hand bag back into a minigun and reload the weapon with the bullet chain she kept around her waist.

"Eat this!" she shouted as the mini-gun roared back to life spraying down the large group of Grimm that had been threatening to breach her doorway.

"Whoaaa!"

Suddenly, Coco felt something ram into her side, knocking her off her feet and forcing her onto her side.

"Little piece of-" Her voice caught in her throat as she pushed herself up and felt a limp form resting on her. Her eyes widened as they fell on two familiar looking bunny ears.

"Velvet? Velvet are you okay?" The young woman said taking the girl's shoulder's in her hands. The faunus's head hung limp, lolling to a side as her eyes remained closed. After only a moment, The girl's eyes flickered open, staring back into Coco's with a confused expression.

"Huh? Wait, what just...?" Velvet's words were disjointed, her mind obviously recovering from her sudden consciousness.

"You need to get up girl, we don't have time for this." Coco said in a stern tone. While she did have concern for her partner, that didn't meant that she would do away with the reality of the situation. Their fight wasn't over, and they didn't have the luxury of relaxing when that effective took half of the team out of the fight.

Velvet was to her feet in a few moments, but Coco noticed a glaze of uncertainty in her eyes.

"You okay?" she asked the Faunus.

"Um, When do you think we're going to get some backup?" The girl turned towards where Fox and Yatsuhashi were still fighting. The former was taking more and more hits as he moved, his face in a tight grimace as he continued to push through, ignoring the few strikes that did make their way to his body. Coco knew the man and that his pride would push him to fight to the very last breath instead of admit he was having a rough time of things. Yatsuhashi was having an easier time as the massive swings of his blade made it difficult for even the most daring Grimm to get close, but when one eventually did...

Coco scowled as she acknowledged that their team was slowly falling apart under the strain of this many Grimm.

How is it possible that so many got into the city?

"Let me worry about that." The leader spoke sternly as she retrieved her scroll from her pocket. Seeing that Velvet was still looking towards her with a concerned expression Coco snapped "What are you still doing standing there? Your team need you! Get to it!"

The Faunus's legs shifted immediately under her weight as she quickly turned back towards the fight. Her box produced two translucent gauntlets identical in design to the young member of that team Rainbow... Coco struggled with the name for a time before dismissing the line of thought. She had more important things to do now.

Raising the Scroll to her face she formed the words in her mind describing just what her team needed.

Help.

* * *

Roxas's lips curled into a faint smile as he watched a large chunk of people boarded the carrier before the blades began to spin again. Their faces bore such genuine relief and happiness that it was impossible for the boy to hold his smile back, many even waved and thanked his team and team Rainbow as they ascended into the sky. The group that was being taken away was only a small portion of the total amount of people still huddled within the shelter, but Roxas suspected that after a few more trips, everyone would be safe.

And we'll be able to finally stop fighting.

He thought to himself as he turned back to face the battlefield of Grimm and Huntresses. The sounds of clashing metals and gunfire had practically become the norm to him at this point, the bright flashes hardly forcing a flinch from the boy now.

"And why aren't you in this fight now?" Ozpin asked with a raised eyebrow looking down towards Roxas.

The young man frowned "They insisted that I take a break... apparently I've been pushing myself too much."

The elder man nodded with a grim line on his lips "Well, it's important not to strain yourself past your capabili-"

Just then a massive roar cut through the air that sent a shiver down Roxas's spine. Turning towards the noise, the teen's mouth fell agaped as he watched the stream of Grimm intensify tenfold. Grimm crawling over other Grimm to get to the shelter sooner.

The other three who'd been previously designated by Weiss to take a break, Ren, Ruby, and Jaune, jumped to their feet as they gathered their weapons, knowing that they would be needed in this wave. The trio raced to the aid of their friends as the oncoming wave of Grimm rushed to meet them.

Roxas summoned his keyblades to his hands as his face took on a determined expression. He felt his feet begin to carry him towards the fight just as A feminine voice rang out from Ozpin's hip

"This is the Leader of Team Coffee! We need help! My team is spread too thin to handle them all! We are located at the north west quadrant of Vale at the Stadium! I don't know how much longer we can-"

The voice ended with static.

Ozpin's mouth curved into a frown as he scowled "I never should have sent them by themselves…" turning to meet Roxas's gaze he said "I need you to collect the rest of your team and make your way to…" Ozpin's words fell away as he turned back to the carnage going on behind him.

Ruby zipped through the sea of black, each movement wrapping her Scythe around the throat of yet another Grimm before her finger pressed on the trigger of her Crescent Rose. A sweat ran down the face of Ren as he flipped through the air firing his dual Stormflower into the mass of Grimm before diving down and plunging their blades into a particularly large King Taijitu.

Pyrrha busied herself by drawing away a large chunk of the horde from the main flood to deal with separately, her Spear and shield operating as her disciples of death as they carved through the Grimm with relative ease. Across the battlefield it was hard to determine where Blake actually was as two versions of her always seemed present serving as effective distractions for Yang to catch unsuspecting Grimm off guard with punches powerful enough to tear through solid concrete. Nora's laughter had finally ceased as her eyebrows furrowed, her fingers gripping her Magnhild tightly as she continued to pound each Grimm unfortunate enough to get in her way.

Meanwhile Jaune, Weiss and Naminé were towards the rear of the group; the latter had their rapiers pointed with intent as they fired blast after blast of Dust magic into the crowds of darkness while the former readied his shield for any Grimm lucky enough to push through their collective teams defenses. A particularly stubborn Ursa pushed through the ranks and swung catching Weiss by the wrist forcing her shot to go wild. Within a second Jaune was at the base of the Grimm's feet driving his sword into the beast's leg. Another second later Naminé's petite form split the air as she shot towards the Grimm with her Rapier dawn back. Moments later the beast crumpled to the ground, with Naminé's weapon plunged through it's throat.

Although the spectacle of teamwork was impressive, it soon led to a realization that both Ozpin and Roxas quickly realized: They couldn't sacrifice any of their members to rescue team Coffee, they simply didn't have the numbers.

"Who… do I send?" Ozpin muttered to himself as his eyes glazed over taking in the scene before him.

They can't sacrifice anyone but…

Roxas cursed under his breath as he struggled to decide whether he should rush forward and help his team or…

"Can you show me where they are on the map?" Roxas said urgently allowing his Oblivion to flash away as he retrieved the pocketed map he'd been given earlier.

Roxas watched as the elder headmaster eyed him knowingly "You know your team can't keep this up by themselves right? They'll need you just as much as Coffee does."

"That's why you're here." Roxas said with a deep resolve as he forced a smile "I imagine that the headmaster of a battle school knows a few moves."

Ozpin returned the grin for a moment before frowning again "You won't be enough Roxas."

"I don't plan to be." The teen said frankly "I can't imagine there are a lot of people at the stadium considering it's not one of the shelters. If I throw up a Corridor while I'm there I should be able to send them to Beacon where it's safe."

Ozpin studied Roxas with a small frown.

"C'mon Professor we don't have time for this! Show me on the map so I can get going!" Roxas commanded.

Ozpin released a sigh "I hope you know what you're getting into young man." as he pointed a finger down at the map

Roxas studied the indicated stadium, after a moment, he realized he knew where that was, Weiss and he'd moved past it before on one of their walks "I don't." the teen finally admitted "But it's the best I got."

Roxas allowed a nervous grin to wash over his features as he summoned a Dark Corridor directly behind him "Now go show everyone why they call you headmaster!" the teen cheered before stepping back into the Darkness.

Ozpin allowed a single 'hmph' to escape his lips before turning and directing his gaze towards where Team Rainbow and most of team Purger were still fighting.

"Oh, I plan to." Ozpin said with a confident smile before his feet began to carry him towards the battle.

* * *

Before he had a chance to blink Roxas found the shape of a claw swinging towards his head. Narrowly avoiding the swipe, the boy cleaved the Ursa in two before finding two more Beowolves awaiting him. They barely had time to open their mouths before their heads had been dismissed from their bodies.

Stepping past the three corpses Roxas's lips parted in awe as he watched the onslaught. A young woman was batting Grimm after Grimm away with seemingly a simply hand back while a young woman Roxas found familiar wielded a set of weapons mirroring his own.

"What the…?" before he could let out another word he saw a young man in red be thrown across the battlefield, in an instant Roxas was there, catching the red head as they struck a wall.

Roxas felt the air knock out of his lungs as they slumped to the ground, once there, the blonde slowly began to get to his feet "ouch… you okay? That looked like a-" Roxas stopped mid sentence as his eyes took in the condition of the man he'd just caught. His biceps and shoulders were bleeding from scratches, his calves and thighs bore similar injuries as red soaked into his otherwise black pants.

His aura ran out long ago…

Roxas's gaze shifted upward at the sound of running feet "Fox! Fox are you O-" the young woman who Roxas had seen previously fighting Grimm with a handback paused taking in the form of Roxas.

The blonde imagined that behind those designer shades were furrowed eyebrows as she asked "Who are you?"

Roxas pushed himself to his feet, carefully laying this 'Fox' person onto the ground "I'm Roxas of team Purger, I'm here to help."  
"Team Purger…" The woman paused, her gaze lowering as she tried to think "That first year team?" she groaned "They sent us first years? Greeeaaaat…" she said sarcastically, but Roxas hear a layer of worry behind her sarcasm.

"Sorry." was all the boy could muster.

"No time to be apologetic." The stylish woman said turning back towards the fight at hand; And what a fight it was. Roxas had thought the hoard challenging his team had been the largest group of Grimm he'd ever seen, but this one made that group look like like Nothing.

Only two more students were fending this hoard off, a young woman with 2 brown bunny ears and a massive young man weilding an appropriately sized sword.

"Wait, where's the rest of your team?" the woman asked confused.

"Uh…" Roxas paused frowning back at her "They're busy with their own fight… I'm the only one who could make it."

This time the woman couldn't hold back the look of nervousness as it washed over her.

"Just one first year as back up…" she mumbled t herself before a cry split the air.

"Gah!" screamed the young woman in brown as Death Stalker's vicious strike finally hit it's mark sending the girl flying.

Her body made a sickening crunch as it slammed against the stadium's walls before crumpling to the ground.

"Velvet!" cried out the last member of team Coffee as he slammed his blade on the Death stalker responsible.

It collapsed under the weight of the blade, just as a Boarbatusk slammed straight against Yatsuhashi's back. The man grunted as he was forced to one knee.

"Yatsuhashi!" called the fashionable woman as she turned away from Roxas and began to sprint towards her injured members with Roxas quickly on her tail.

Her head whipped back as she snapped "You stay with Fox! This fight is too much for a first year! Just make sure that nothing gets to him!" Roxas slowed to a stop in surprise as the young woman continued her charge towards the hoard, handbag gripped tightly.

The former Nobody watched as the woman who he still had no name for leapt into the hoard, smashing the heel of her boot into the face of an Ursa before riding it down and slamming her handbag into a Beowolf leaping for Yatsuhashi's side.

Roxas's eyes wandered over the masses of Grimm still adding to the hoard pushing to reach the single entrance.

Why are there so many…?

The teen thought as he heard the woman from before call out in pain from a Ursa's well placed punch into her back. Another grunt slipped from Yatsuhashi's lips as his feet were pulled out from underneath him due to a smaller King Taijitu's tail lashing out.

They can't hold that for long…

Roxas thought to himself as he felt his feet begin to carry him once again towards the fight. He heard the woman call out his name in worry as he leapt forward and dove straight into the center on the hoard.

"Did he just...?" Coco asked in confusion before a flash of light so bright it could have been the sun exploded from the center of the Grimm. Coco and Yatsuhashi grimaced, forced to close their eyes from the intensity as they tried to block the light with their forearms.

"What was… that?" Yatsuhashi asked as he began to blink his eyes back open.

"I don't…" Coco began as she opened her eyes, her shades having blocked most of the light "Wait… what?"

The leader of team Coffee stood awestruck as her eyes failed to see even a single remaining Grimm charging towards them. Instead, she found the form of Roxas sprawled out on his back, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he panted.

Coco and Yatsuhashi both approached slowly, their eyes wide as they continued to search for even a single Grimm remaining.

They found none.

After a few moments Coco stood over Roxas slack jaw "What… was that?" she asked still stunned.

"My friends GASP, call it GASP, Light…Bomb…" Roxas barely managed to choke out in between breaths.

'Light… bomb?" Coco repeated still not fully understanding.

The blonde finally managed to muster up the strength to push himself up on his elbows "Think of it as...GASP… my semblance."

"Strong Semblance." Yatsuhashi stated 'matter of factly' as he offered a hand to the boy.

Roxas smiled weakly as he reached out and took the hand and was quickly heaved to his feet.

"Yeah…" Coco continued to scan the area which had just a minute ago been packed with Grimm "Seriously strong…"

"We need to check on velvet and Fox." Yatsuhashi said firmly as he turned back towards the stadium.

"...Right!" Coco said turning to run back towards where her two teammates had fallen.

Roxas followed slowly behind them, his legs feeling like jello after that last burst of power, if he had felt spent before, this was running on fumes.

"Are they okay?" Roxas asked as he finally reached where Coco was nelt over the fallen form of Velvet, Yatsuhashi was only a few yards away carrying back Fox on his shoulder.

"A few bruises, some gashs here and there and maybe a cracked rib or two," Coco began with a frown that slowly formed into a smile "but still breathing, and that's what matters." turning to look at Roxas she grinned "You really saved our asses out there kid. Dunno exactly how, but had you came a moment later, Velvet here might not be just walking away from this with some cracked , from the bottom of my heart, Thank you."

Roxas felt heat rise up in his cheeks as he instinctively began scratching the back of his head awkwardly "It was uh.. Well, anytime." he stammered out.

Coco released a soft laugh before turning to Yatsuhashi "How's Fox doing?"

The giant of a man grinned "He'll be fine. Knowing him I bet the only thing that will be wounded will be his pride when he finds out he was the first one to fall in the fight."

Coco returned the smile shaking her head "That guy always seems to push himself too hard…" rising to her feet, she took one of Velvet's limp arms over her shoulder before looking at Roxas "You okay enough to help me carry her inside?"

The boy nodded before pausing and looking over the two unconscious students once more.

"Just one sec… mind holding them still for a moment?" Roxas asked as he hovered his hands over Velvet's otherwise limp form.

This raised an eyebrow from Coco "What are you…?" before a faint green symbol began to hover above the girl's head with trickles of green falling onto her form. Coco and Yatsuhashi watched in stunned silence as the wounds littering the girl's body slowly began to heal, her cuts sealing as bruises began to fade away. The tight grimace pinching Velvet's expression eased as she relaxed into a peaceful sleep.

Roxas breathed a sigh of exhaustion before turning to Fox's form and performing the same process, causing his pained expression to fade as his wounds closed and his breathing relaxed.

"...How did you just… do that?" Coco asked bewildered.

"It wasn't much actually…" Roxas admitted awkwardly scratching the back of his head "If I wasn't so tired I might have been able to restore their aura too. It literally took all I had left to heal just their wounds."

Coco released a laugh "Heal Just their wounds. Didja hear that Yatsuhashi? He only healed their immediate wounds! Might as well have done nothing at all! Am I right?"

Yatsuhashi's lips quickly formed a snicker from Coco's blatant sarcasm.

Roxas felt heat in his cheeks as a blush quickly took his features.

"In all Seriousness though." Coco suddenly said turning back towards Roxas "I don't know who you are or how you're doing all of this, but I'd be lying if I said that it wasn't helping us out a ton overall. So thanks again." Coco grumbled as she shifted the weight of Velvet on her shoulder "Mind taking her other arm now? We still gotta get these guys inside."

Taking the Faunus's other arm and wrapping it around his neck, the two half carried/ half drug the girl inside with Yatsuhashi following behind.

As they stepped inside, Roxas got his answer to why there had been so many Grimm attacking this place. Roxas's feet stopped in place as his wide eyes scanned over an ocean of worried, tearful, and scared looking hundreds of people stood within the walls of the stadium, and they all regarded him with frightful confusion, the stadium echoed with worried voices and Roxas could hear several of them crying in fright.

"Probably children…" the boy mumbled to himself before he heard Coco's annoyed voice call out.

"Hey! Earth to Roxas! Stop gawking and help me carry her over there! They've set up a makeshift infirmary in the corner."

The boy felt his feet begin moving as he began to think about how much Grimm this much concentrated fear would attracted. At least the people at a shelter had the relative comfort of safety from the guards outside and the reinforced walls, here, there was none of that. Just the constant sound of growls and roars from outside and a single team fighting to keep it at bay.

No wonder there are were so many Grimm… this is like a beacon of fear to them…

Which meant…

"I'm sure you already realize that there are gonna be more Grimm coming with this number of people." Coco's voice had lost it's previous bravado, her words low and discrete "I told them that there are helicopters on route to rescue, but I don't think that did much to help their collective panic."

They slowly lowered Velvet's form as they reached the makeshift 'infirmary' which only consisted of several large blankets and pillows where the injured could rest in moderate comfort. Roxas's frown deepened as he saw just how many were injured. There were more than he could count.

Coco continued as Yatsuhashi softly lowered fox onto his own blanket "And now they're seeing that two of the four previous members of the team sent to protect them have been taken out… I'm sure that isn't gonna boost moral." Coca spoke begrudgingly.

"We should get back out there." Yatsuhashi stated flatly.

"I know I know." Coco responded letting exhaustion slip into her words "I'm just explaining the situation to the first year. I'm sure Roxas bought us a few minutes at least. You can go back out to the front if you want. Holler if anything starts coming."

Yatsuhashi gestured a nod before heading back towards the entrance to the Coliseum.

Coco's lips pulled into a small smile as she watched the man go "I swear that guy never gets tired…"

"Are there helicopters actually coming?" Roxas asked bluntly "Or did you just tell them that to ease some of their panic?"

Coco's smile quickly fell "Yes and no. I don't know for certain if there are actually aircraft coming to pick these people up. I was able to get in contact with a few pilots that said they'd be on their way asap but… that was an hour ago and… well, there's no sign of them."

Roxas felt his stomach drop. If these people didn't get out of here soon...

Coco pointed an index finger across the see of people pointing "There's a service tunnel meant for the employees during the big games over there. I've instructed everyone to fall back there if things go south out there or somehow a Grimm slips in while we're fighting."

"Why aren't they in there already?"

Coco chuckled "Kinda hard to load people onto a aircraft if they're all underground. Besides, those doors aren't like the shelters, they're not meant to tank Grimm attacks, I'm sure a few Ursa would be able to tear those down in a matter of minutes." her voice lowered as she said the last part, pulling Roxas's in closer, she continued in a whisper "Honestly,I just told them that so that they can feel like they have a plan B if we fall, something to calm the nerves and all. In all reality… If we go down out there… well… I doubt I have to go into detail what will happen to these people." as she spoke her words grew grim, her expression hard and serious.

Roxas understood as he nodded with an equally grim expression "Well then, guess we have no choice but to fight."

Coco shot the boy a weak smile "That's the spirit."

Roxas turned away from her as he said "I also… might have a solution to the evacuation dilemma."

Raising a hand, a Dark Corridor suddenly erupted from the ground several feet away startling several as a wave of frightened voices called out variations of "IT'S THE GRIMM!" and "THEY'VE MADE IT IN!"

Roxas felt Coco's hand force his arm down as she scolded "I don't know what you're trying to do or what that is but cut it out! They're already scared enough as it is! We don't need them attracting any more Grimm!"

Roxas reluctantly allowed the Corridor to dissipate before turning back towards Coco "It's a way to get them out of here! Look!" He said as he enveloped himself in the flames before stepping out several yards away. The look on Coco's face told him that now she had also been made nervous by his teleportation trick.

"How did you…?"

Roxas released an annoyed sigh "Look, there's really no time to explain, we just need to get as many people as possible to step through while there's no-"

"HERE THEY COME!" Roared Yatsuhashi's voice.

"Damn it!" Coco cursed under her breath before meeting Roxas's gaze "You're telling me that if people walk through this strange black flame of yours you can get them to safety?"

Roxas nodded "I can get them back to Beacon academy."

Coco studied Roxas's face for several seconds trying to catch any hint of a lie, she found none.

She sighed, her head sagging in defeat as she murmured to herself "I really hope that this isn't just some delusion and I'm not just passed out on the floor from a concussion."

Raising her head, she stared Roxas in the eyes and said "I literally have no other choice but to hope you're right. So, I really REALLY hope you're right."

Roxas opened his mouth to reply, but before he could she had turned her back to him facing the crowd as she announced "I need all of you to listen up right now because this could mean literal life or death!" the collective murmurs from the crowd about 'seeing a boy teleport' settled down as they directed their attention to the leader of team Coffee.

She took a deep breath before continuing "This young man is a student of Beacon academy! The same school who trains the Huntsmen and Huntress's fighting back the Grimm currently attacking Vale!" She paused just a moment as the sound of Yatsuhashi's blade slamming against the concrete outside echoed through the confines of the stadium. Worried murmurs spread through the massive crowd of people like a wave.

Coco's worry for her teammate made her turn and look towards the entrance briefly before turning back to the crowd "Now this young man has just presented me with a means to escape this stadium with transport to Beacon academy where it is safe!" Coco paused eying Roxas expectantly for several seconds for the boy realized she wanted him to form the Dark corridor.

Roxas hastily focused as he outstretched a hand, forming a link between the stadium and Beacon academy's front lawn with the swirling black and purple flames. A wave of nervousness and panic hit the crowd at the sight of the darkness.

Coco's petite frame continued to boom authority as she shouted "Now I recognize that that it appears intimidating! But I have been assured that stepping into the flames will transport you safely to Beacon academy! SO! If everyone will please quickly form an orderly line we can begin getting everyone to safety! Step for-"

Just then there was a BOOM and out of the corner of his eye Roxas watched as the bulky form of Yatsuhashi came flying through the main entrance of the coliseum. In an instant the man was back to his feet, but that didn't stop a steady stream of Grimm from flooding through the four arches and into the stadium. Yatsuhashi rushed to meet the horde, but could not push them back as Grimm fought to hold their ground within the walls of the stadium.

Panicked screams echoed throughout the space as many began to flee towards the doors of the service tunnels, others simply fled the opposite way of the entering Grim, pushing their backs against the walls of the stadium with panic stricken expressions. Many ran towards where their presumed loved ones were injured on the blankets, forcing them to their feet as they carried them away from the seemingly endless wave of Grimm.

"Damn!" Coco spat watching as Yatsuhashi struggled to slash through each Beowolf and Ursa that threatened to slip through his defenses. She began to rush towards the conflict before pausing and whipping her head back towards Roxas "Are you able to keep that portal up and fight?"

Roxas felt his heart beating in his chest as he realized the weight of the question. He'd never tried to fight while maintaining the Corridor. Of course he'd used it in battle before to get a one up on his opponent, but in those cases he had only had to use it for the few seconds it took for him to step through before dismissing the darkness. The bottom line was that maintaining a Corridor of Darkness required his continued concentration less the Darkness within grow chaotic, sending its occupant to a random location, such as what had happened to him in his fight against Riku, or perhaps the occupant would never reach a destination, doomed to be lost within the darkness forever.

Roxas shook his head "It's not safe for me to keep the Corridor open and fight."

Coco cursed under her breath before spitting "Then try and get and many people through as possible!" She was already sprinting towards the Grimm beginning to slip by Yatsuhashi's surprisingly rapid strikes "We'll hold them off for as long as we can!"

Roxas's eyes darted away from Coco to a civilian staring dumbly at Roxas with a scared expression "Well? Didn't you hear her? Move it!" Roxas commanded indicating for the frightened man to move towards the Corridor. The man gulped staring down the swirling darkness before nodding and stiffly stepping into it before disappearing.

Those who'd not ran down into the service tunnels or to the other side of the field stared at Roxas with wonder, awe, and fear.

"What are you waiting for!" Roxas's voice shouted louder than he'd ever shouted before "We don't have a lot of time! Get in!"

* * *

-In the Air, helicarrier 21-E-

It'd taken almost an hour to respond to the distress call made by team Coffee all the way out at the Velvet Stadium. There'd been so many others Sable had been forced to respond to before this one. A determined expression pushed itself onto his face as his grip on the control stick tightened. The stadium was coming into view, and by the looks of things, it wasn't good. Grimm had broken through the entrance and were slowly forcing their way through, seemingly with some resistance.

Sable grimaced as he cursed under his breath. Despite already moving faster than protocol allowed in a civilian district, the pilot pushed the aircraft harder as he accelerated in the direction of the Stadium. In a less than a minute he was hovering over the stadium and could see that not all was lost at below there were still members of team Coffee fighting back the Grimm trying to force their way through. Sable smiled at this as he began to lower his aircraft into the most relatively empty spot within the field. To his relief, people instinctive made away for his landing gear, giving him a wide berth as he neared the ground. He could see the ecstatic faces of the people below looking up at him with hope in their eyes. Their expressions of relief and happiness brought a smile to Sable's face as he continued to descend,

Just as massive screech filled his ears, and a massive shadow blocked out the light of the moon above.

* * *

A smile began to tug at the corner of his lips as the sound of a helicopter's blades filled his ears. Roxas's gaze shot up as his eyes reflected the sight of helicopter blades tearing through the air in rapid succession.

"We're saved!" Called out a random voice quickly followed by cheers of relief from the crowd surrounding Roxas.

The boy turned his head away from the metallic savior to check on the condition of Coco and Yatsuhashi. Despite her incredible battle prowas, Roxas could see visible signs of tears in her otherwise fashionable attire along with shallow but very much present streaks of blood. Yatsuhashi was fairing even worse between the two, his left arm dangling uselessly at his side as he winced in pain with each swipe of his massive blade.

"They can't hold out much longer…" Roxas mumbled to himself with wide, fearful eyes. His head turned back and forth between his Corridor of Darkness which had a steady stream of people flooding into it finally and the shallow remains of what was team Coffee.

Roxas watched in as a Coco cried out in pain when a lucky Death Stalker's tail managed to pierce the girl's thigh, forcing her to one knee.

"Coco!" Roxas called out in panic.

Running to her aid, Yatsuhashi crashed his blade through the Death stalker,

Only to to overwhelmed by an ocean of Beowolfs, engulfing the two entirely in the swarming form of snarling Grimm.

"No!" Roxas shouted as his Corridor of Darkness wavered before disappearing completely after it's last occupant had gone.

The boy heard several 'What?!' and complaining 'What the hell!?'s but he pushed those sounds to the back of his mind as he charged forward summoning both the Oblivion and Oathkeeper to his open hands. Adrenaline forced his legs to push faster than he'd ever felt before as he covered the distance between where he was and where he'd last seen the desperate faces of Coco and Yatsuhashi before they'd gone under.

"Get to the helicopter!" He roared before diving into the hoard of Grimm pilling on

top of where Yatsuhashi and Coco had just been moments before.

A smothered roar could be heard as the sounds of tearing flesh and breaking limbs emanated from the hoard before, in a bright flourish, Roxas's blades shredded the small lump of Beowolves atop the remaining members of team Coco.

His shoulders heaving with each breath, Roxas took a brief moment to look down and study the prone figures of Coco and Yatsuhashi. Coco's clothes were torn to shreds as was Yatsuhashi's, each of their bodies were littered in cuts and bites, with each set of eyes closed in a tight grimace, but in that short glance Roxas was able to distinguish their chests slowly rising and falling.

The boy breathed a sigh of relief as he dodged to the left before driving his Oblivion into the sternum of a Beowolf who'd gotten just a little too confident in its bite. The boy reared back his arms before throwing them out in a flourish, sending both Keyblades forward each spinning with such ferocity that any Grimm unfortunate enough to be in their way quickly found themselves split in half.

Both Keyblades carved straight lines through the oncoming hoard before Roxas eventually called them back just in time to block an Ursa's massive claw.

Just then, the boy noticed the light of the moon above him obstructed the briefest moment causing the teen to look up, his battle driven mind forcing his eyes to take in everything they could in an instant.

What he saw terrified him.

Just above him, swooping down into the open roof of the stadium, was the largest Nevermore the teen had ever seen.

Its talons were extended as it dived, its glowing red eyes were focused and staring forward with dark intent,

As it dived straight towards the aircraft still just barely touching down.

"NO!" Roxas shouted as he tried to turn and do something, anything to stop what was about to happen. He reared back his arm to throw the Oblivion, but it felt as if his arm was stuck in molasses as it moved, his Keyblade had only just left his fingertips when the Nevermore struck.

Just as the aircraft neared ten feet away from brown trampled grass talons tore through its metal husk as the Nevermore roared, pulling the craft off course and causing it to spiral as emergency lights showered the cockpit. Roxas could see the pilot desperately trying to regain control of the aircraft as the Nevermore continued to tear into it with its massive claws.

Roxas attempted to move towards the calamity despite not knowing what he could do when he got there only to watch as the aircraft struck the stadium tearing through the grass and dirt with its wings as it broke apart as the Nevermore continued to tear into it.

The previously delighted civilians who'd been standing ready to board took on expressions of horror as a small flicker of orange lit at the center of the aircraft just before Roxas heard a mighty BOOM.

* * *

Rays of sun began to slip over the horizon splattering Vale in selective sections of light. A smile grace Ruby's lips as she reached up and was just barely able to touch some of the rising sun with her fingertips. Her smile widened as she felt the warmth.

"Is it… over?" Jaune gasped out his hands on his knees as he struggled to keep himself standing.

Weiss turned with crossed arms "Well, we haven't seen one for about fifteen minutes so it would be a safe assumption that the bulk of the Grimm have been destroyed."

"Oh thank everything that is good!" Jaune uttered as he sprawled out onthe ground.

Pyrrha smiled as she stood over her exhausted team leader "You know, I don't think that our 'fearless leader' is supposed to collapse on the pavement the moment the fighting is over." she said teasingly.

"Yeah shouldn't you be giving a heroic speech or something?" Ruby added wiping her brow.

"Oh give me a break!" Jaune complained waving Pyrrha away as the girl attempted to help the teen up.

"Watch! It should be like this!" Yang announced with a grin as she spun around on her heel and addressed the less than savory sight of team Rainbow. Ren's shoulders were slumped and Blake looked like she was ready to tip over at the slightest breeze, Nora on the other hand was smiling brightly and standing upright with her hands resting on her hips.

"Team Rainbow!" Yang began "I think we all kicked ass today! Course that's nothing new because we always kick ass!" she threw up two massive thumbs up which Nora eagerly returned. Blake and Ren both shot each other exhausted looks before groaning and forcing their hands to form two thumbs up.

Both Naminé and Weiss approached Ozpin as he wiped down his cane from debri that had gathered during the fight. His eyes darted up as they approached, catching their worried gaze as he put away the cloth he'd been using.

"Any word from team Coffee or Roxas?" Naminé asked.

Ozpin frowned in response, team Coffee had gone completely dark just half an hour before the sun had begun to rise, approximately the same time Roxas had left to help them.

"None just yet, but that could simply be the result of a damaged scroll. Roxas informed me that he'd planned to use his Corridor to transport the people taking refuge in the stadium to Beacon before transporting himself and team Coffee there as well. It's likely they are currently there safe and sound."

"But we're still gonna check the stadium right?" This time it was Ruby's voice drawing concern as the rest of team Purgur followed behind her as she approached the greying man.

Ozpin nodded "The carrier just left with the last of the civilians. It shouldn't be long now that another returns to pick us up. I'll have them transport us to the stadium to ensure that Roxas and team Coffee made it out okay."

Ozpin forced a reassuring smile, but in the back of his mind, he felt doubt.

* * *

Ruby was the first one out of the carrier as it touched down, her semblance caused her to race forward towards the entrance of the stadium at blurring speeds. The rest of teams Rainbow and Purgur soon followed along with Naminé and Weiss.

They'd initially planned to just fly over the structure, verifying that no one was still present before heading off to Beacon.

What they'd seen forced them to land.

As Ruby sprinted into the massive space of the stadium before slowing to a stop. Her eyes began to tear as her hand raised to cover her mouth.

Similar reactions washed over the rest of the students as their eyes took in the sight after finally catching up.

The first thing that drew their attention were the bodies. More than twenty forms were sprawled out on the ground, motionless and limp.

"The ones who didn't get away in time…" Nora quietly murmured, distraught written across her features.

Next was the wreckage of a massive helicarrier in the center of the field. It's wings were completely destroyed and it's body showed evidence of an explosion from the darkened soot marks coating its sides. Further evidence supported the theory as not ten feet away surrounding the metallic hust were the remains of several charred-

Ruby looked away before she could take in any further details, he eyes shutting tightly as trickles of tears began to run down her cheeks. A moment later Yang was at her side pulling her into a tight embrace as her eyes took in the tragic sight.

"What… happened here…?" Pyrrha murmured her words barely audible as she tried to process the same sight everyone else was.

"Grimm. The Grimm happened here." Jaune said with rising anger in his voice. His fists began to tighten as he grit his teeth at the sight.

Blake nealt down, placing a two fingers against the neck of one of the motionless figures, she grimaced before rising to her feet and shaking her head towards the rest of the group.

"...you don't think that… Roxas…" Naminé began, her voice beginning to shake as she continued.

"No!" Weiss suddenly interjected, not allowing the girl to finish "Roxas is the strongest person I've ever met! Bar none! I'm sure he's held up somewhere with everyone else right now perfectly fine!"

The rest of the group grew silent.

"We need to check." Jaune suddenly commanded with new found determination in his voice "look around and see if we can find anything that can suggest what actually happened here."

"Please…" Ozpin spoke in a low tone "Be careful." his hand was covering his face as he averted his gaze downward.

The group spread out, purposely avoiding the wreckage in the center of the field before Naminé's voice rang out "Over here! I think I found something!"

The group gathered around a small opening along the side of the stadium wall that lead down into a wide cement hallway.

"The doors… look." Naminé muttered as she knelt down and ran a finger along deep gashes that had torn through the metal door. Both doors lay slashed and broken on the ground, dented and trampled on by clawed feet.

"The Grimm tore through this area… likely chasing…" Ren began as he stared down the dark hallway that turned left after thirty feet.

He didn't have to finish his statement for the others to know what the Grimm would be chasing. They only ever chased one thing.

"Well...we... we still have to make sure. There might be survivors." Jaune said in a focused tone as he walked past the group down the hallway into the darkness.

Ozpin quickly reached out and caught the boy's shoulder as he said "Wait a moment Jaune. While I admire your determination, What you may see down there might be more than any student should be forced to see. I think it would be more appropriate if I go ahead of you children. As a Huntsman I've already seen what horrors this occupation has to offer. I'd like if you-"

"Professor," Blake suddenly interrupted, her gaze cold, her eyes determined "If what we're going to see down there is something we'll have to eventually witness as huntresses and Huntsmen, then shouldn't we just get it over with already?"

Ozpin's lips parted to protest, but before he could utter another word Jaune had already shaken off his hand "I'm sorry professor." his words were grave "But I need to find out what happened to my friend." soon the rest of the group moved past Ozpin who looked on with a frown on his features watching each one of them go.

"...but you're not ready…" he murmured beneath his breath as he turned and followed the group of students bellow.

Jaune and Yang lead the group, their scrolls out providing light as they followed the otherwise dark corridor. Their footsteps echoed down the hallway as they walked in silence mentally preparing themselves for whatever sight awaited them.

Weiss felt tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes as she tried to push down the thought that everyone was having.

Roxas was gone.

The Schnee turned her head and saw the Ruby was futilely wiping away tears, drenching her sleeves in the process.

Suddenly, Yang and Jaune came to a sudden halt, their eyes wide as their scrolls illuminated a figure.

In the dim light they could make out a mixture of red and black designing its body. Its shoulders were slumped with arms seemingly so long that they scraped against the ground as it slowly trudged forward. It's face was red as it's head lolled up and down as if it was hard to support its own weight.

Terror filled Jaunes voice as he began to murmur "What in the- what is that!?"

Ruby's eyes narrowed as she leaned forward "Wait… is that…?"

"Watch out guys! We've got Grimm!" Yang shouted as her shot gauntlets engaged covering her fists.

Weiss raised her rapier as Blake trained her sights on the figure. Pyrrha readied her spear as Ren, Nora, and Naminé each prepared their weapons.

"WAIT!" Ruby's voiced shouted as she rushed forward, dropping her scythe as she did so.

"Ruby! What are you-!?" Yang shouted reaching out to grab at her sister but missing at the last moment.

Ruby reached the slowly approaching figure and quickly wrapped her arms around its torso, pushing her head into its shoulder.

"...what?" Yang quietly uttered; The rest of the group mirrored her confusion.

Ruby murmured into its shoulder quietly "I'm so glad you're okay…" before turning back towards her friends and shouting "It's Roxas!"

Open mouthed and wide eyed Jaune raised his scroll again as he casted a stronger light on the figure currently wrapped in Ruby's embrace.

His black coat had been cut and torn through, allowing red to seep out and smear across his skin and clothes. A large cut above his forehead had lead a steady stream of blood to run down his face further adding to the accents of red. His sleeve was gone, torn at the shoulder revealing an arm covered in cuts and slashes. What they'd mistaken as deformed arms had just been his keyblades tightly gripped in his trembling hands as he struggled to drag them along with.

"R-Ruby…?" he barely managed to choke out. His eyes were barely open, seemingly only just holding onto consciousness.

"Yes it's me!" she said pulling him into a tighter hug "I'm so sorry it took us so long to get to you." Soon, the rest of the group swarmed around the young man, cheering and hollering in happiness.

"I knew you couldn't be gone!" Weiss cried as she pulled the young man into a hug of her own.

"T-there's…"

"Nothing can keep keep us blondies down eh?" Yang remarked with a toothy grin.

"There's… more…"

"You gave us quite the scare you realize." Jaune commented smiling.

Roxas's still shaking hand dropped the Oblivion, allowing it to loudly clatter to the ground as he raised a wavering finger down the way he'd come from.

"There's… more… survivors… down… there…" His hoarse voice choked out barely able to keep a single eye open.

"There's…" Blake began.

"More…?" Pyrrha finished.

Soon, the group heard a sea of footsteps approaching them from the darkness Jaune and Yang raised their Scrolls as a horde of people extending as far back as the light could touch suddenly became visible. Their eyes were worried and scared, but they were breathing, and they were alive.

"Keep… them… safe…" Roxas managed to utter before his feet gave out and his world went black.

* * *

AN:

Sooooo… I'm sure that people weren't expecting this virsion of the breach to be so much more dire eh? I feel the need to explain why these events occurred before people assume I just did it for the drama or something lol. Recall that in canon the breach occurred when it did only due to ruby and gang stumbling upon Roman's plan ahead of time forcing it into action before it was ready. The result was… subpar to say the least. The entire force of Grimm that did invade the district of Vale was so pitiful that it was barely even a threat once back up came( not to mention Ironwood's army which had been present at the time). In this canon, Blake never got the chance to investigate the White Fang leading to the cast of RWBY to never investigating the ruins of what had been Vale's attempting expansion. What this means is that Cinder's plan was able to initiate at the appropriate time when EVERYTHING was properly prepared and readied. What more, due to Demyx's help their progress was sped up over a month in advance (which is why it happened before the dance and additionally, before Ironwood's army arrived) meaning that Vale didn't have the forces of Ironwood's army to assist them in this engagement.

This basically is my interpretation of these events had Roman not been hindered in its execution.

I'm sure that not all of you in the comments needed this explanation as to why this version of these events were so dire, but for those of you who did I thought it might help :-/.

Also, I recognize that things were a tad bit darker in some sections, I tried to handle those scenes as tastefully as possible while staying true to the fact that an attack like this would result in casualties. In the world of RWBY, it makes no sense that a Grimm invasion wouldn't result in some deaths considering the nature of Grimm(despite the fact that in the main cannon no deaths are shown on scene during that fight...)...I think I'm only defending myself so much right now because I'm predicting a lot of hate mail for this chapter for some reason… I'm gonna stop with this AN now lol.

Anyway, this was a pretty big chapter and it was completed pretty quickly next to the last one (take it as my apology for being gone for so long) so it may be a little bit till I'm able to post again. That being said I'll still continue to work on the story going forward and I hope you all enjoyed!

PS: To those of you it concerns I will announce when I have completely KH3 and am open to discussion! Thanks for being patient with me!


	30. Chapter 30: Silent Revelations

-Ozpin's Office, Beacon Academy-

"I'm sure that you all are wondering just why I called you here to my office."

Ozpin spoke with a tiredness to his voice, his eyes scanning over the faces with eyes half closed. Many of the rooms occupants appeared tired,most appeared ready to collapse.

"Yeah that along with a few other things." Coco said with a sigh. Her cheek had a bandaid taped to it with her wrists and arms bearing similar bandages. It was notable to the room that she was favoring her left side as whenever she stepped she walked with a slight limp.

"Let's not be rude now Coco." Yatsuhashi voiced with a small frown before his eyes met Ozpin's "What is it that you need from us professor?" He had gauze wrapped around his upper bicep and a bandage taped long his forehead along with some bandages running up his shins.

Fox and Velvet stood beside their team members. Despite the former's conditions, these two appeared relatively untouched without a single bruise across their body, had it not been for their torn clothing, it could have easily been assumed that they'd only just woken up.

"Now, I don't know for certain what happened at the stadium, I'm sure that what you saw and what happened were traumatic in their own rights. My sympathy goes out to you, and I'm glad to have you safe and sound." A smile rose in Ozpin's cheeks as he made eye contact with each of team Coffee, before slowly fading.

"And I know that it isn't fair of me to ask anything of you all given what you've been through. But I must make a request."

And what's that?" This time it was Nora's voice echoing through the otherwise quiet space. Standing next to her were the rest of team Rainbow.

"I must ask that you keep what you saw of the student Roxas, quiet to those who do not already know, or, at the very least, try to not further fuel the rumors bound to spread from this event."

"And why is that?" This time it was Ruby's voice, her and the rest of team Purger, aside from Roxas, stood with the rest of the group.

"Roxas is a hero, people should be celebrating him, along with team Coffee of course." Weiss said looking over towards the members of team Coffee.

Coco shook her head waving a hand "No need to baby us kid. We know when to be humble. We may have been there first, but I'm not too prideful to admit that Roxas saved our asses out there. If he didn't get there when he did well…" Coco paused looking back at her team with a smile before turning back to look Ozpin in the eyes "I'm all but certain we wouldn't be standing here in front of you."

Namine flashed a smile before turning back to Ozpin "Why shouldn't Roxas be celebrated? I mean… he did so much… and he's in the infirmary because of it…" a collective frown washed over the room.

"I understand that Roxas's efforts saved hundreds of lives, and I'm not saying that the boy shouldn't be praised for his efforts, I'm simply asking that the… magical aspects of his actions not be broadcasted from your teams."

"A little late for that." Coco said with a yawn "I'm pretty sure dozens of people were sent through that black fire thingy of his with hundreds of others watching it happen. What he did there was fantastic, and..." she said with a deepened frown "I don't think that was a semblance. Only a few minutes earlier he managed to clear out an entire Army of Grimm with a massive flash of light."

"Light bomb…" Namine added shyly. Coco shot her a flat stare before the girl looked down embarrassed.

"Right…" Coco added "He used a 'Light bomb' or so he called it. Then, not a minute after, he walked over to my two beaten and battered team mates here-" as she said that a scowl washed over Fox's face as the young man looked away, appearing ashamed. Coco smiled at him looking over her shoulder "Sorry Fox, I know that you're not particularly fond of that part." she looked back meeting Ozpin's eyes as she continued "Anyway, without anything but his hand he made a green glowy thing appear above their heads and magically-" she placed special emphasis on the word "Their wounds began to close, their bruises began to vanish, and not only that-" she paused to lift Fox's shirt revealing a chiseled set of abs and forcing a slight blush to the boy's face before pointing to his side "But what were certainly broken ribs are now perfectly healed." she said running a hand down the young man's ribs.

Exhaling a short breath of annoyed air Fox quickly brushed the girl's hand away as he pulled his shirt back down.

She flashed a mischievous grin before continuing once more "Now, unless people are supposed to have multiple semblances, he knows something that we don't, and I'm willing to bet my left arm that he knows how to do a lot more than just that." Crossing her arms and frowning at Ozpin she finished by saying "He should be a teacher, not a student. Knowing how to do any of those things would be incredible for huntsmen and Huntresses all around. Just imagine how much good could come of-"

"Just imagine how much bad could come of it as well." Ozpin suddenly added, a graveness in his tone. His expression had shifted from playful to dead serious.

"Imagine if every Huntsman and Huntress was taught what Roxas currently knows, if it could even be taught at all, that is to say." Ozpin noted as he began to pace back and forth through the room "Imagine now that one of those students defects, drops out and imagine now, that student decided to teach what he or she'd learned from Roxas to others, others who do not seek to aid the forces of good. Who instead, sought to do harm to the people of Vale, of Atlas, to any person who does not have the training that Roxas does."

Ozpin stopped in his pacing to turn back and stare Coco in the eyes "Can you imagine what a person with evil intent could do with those type of abilities, or what a group of people could do?"

Coco's lips parted to respond, but a wave of uncertainty crossed her face as she suddenly looked down "I… understand."

Ozpin continued "It's true that what Roxas can do is incredible, on a scale that many can't even fathom. But, that if that sort of power fell into the wrong hands-"

"But it already-!" Blake suddenly began before silencing herself and turning away. Heads turned her direction.

"Yes miss Belladonna?" Ozpin said as his eyes slowly narrowed on the girl, studying her.

"I…" The girl paused in thought "It's nothing." she said turning away "I'm just tired is all."

"I… see." Ozpin continued slowly still studying the girl for several seconds before his eyes turned to address the rest of the group "I hope I've made my point clear. If word got out of Roxas's capabilities, there would be countless people who would attempt to make that power their own." Ozpin's expression hardened as he gave the group a dark stare "Most likely by any means necessary." Ozpin's expression eased into a smile "And while Roxas may be incredible, it's clear as day that he is not unstoppable, he is still but a boy, and he bleeds like any other."

A collective wave of 'yes sirs' and 'yeah's' flooded the room in agreement before Pyrrha's voice asked "But what about all the people he helped? Like Coco said, hundreds of people saw what Roxas could do… what are you gonna do about that?"

A grim expression made its way onto Ozpin's face "I've already spoken to the hundreds of people who were found at the stadium along with the many people who made it here to Beacon via Roxas's… special abilities." Ozpin sighed as he said "I told them that if they wanted to show gratitude to the young man that saved their lives, that they would remain quiet about what occured down in Vale, that word of mouth about the specifics of that tragic event can mean the endangerment of Roxas. There unfortunately wasn't much more I could do besides that."

Worried expressions made their way through the room.

"But," Jaune began "What if rumor does get out? I've already began to hear a rumor going through the school, and this is just the first day." nervousness crept into the youngman's voice.

Ozpin breathed an exhausted sigh "And I'm certain that it will spread far beyond that despite my best efforts. But rumors die with time, and I can only hope that it dies before it reaches the wrong ears."

"And... if it does?" Ruby asked with a frown.

Silence filled the room.

"If someone does come after Roxas…" Yang slowly began "Then he has team Rainbow to beat up whoever dares think they can bully our friend!" a grin split the girl's face as she presented the room with 'the guns'. Nora and Ren both grinned as they nodded, even Blake felt a faint smile form from her cheeks.

Smiling, Jaune added "And don't forget Ruby, he is still a part of team Purger, so you know that we'll be there for him if anything happens."

Ruby smiled at this.

"Roxas was the one who lead me away from Twilight town… he helped me become stronger and introduced me to all of you guys…" Namine began quietly "I'll do anything to protect him." she said with a small smile.

Weiss nodded "Do I even have to say it? I'd do everything in my power to protect Roxas."

The leader of team Coco flashed a grin "Hey don't forget about us. He saved all of our asses back there, you know that we'll be there if his ass is the one that needs saving next time."

"For sure." Velvet added with a smile that the others reciprocated.

"Well then." Ozpin began with a smile pulling at his cheeks "It seems that Roxas has amassed quite the army, as you know that I will do everything within my power to protect a student on my school."

Yang released a small laugh "Honestly, I say 'bring it on' to anyone who dares to step to Roxas."

* * *

-Beacon Academy, Dorms-

"So, did you get everything we need?" Emerald asked as she laid back onto the relative comfort of her dorm room bed.

A smile played on Cinder's lips "What do you think?" she said sitting down on the bed across from the girl.

"Were there even any guards there?" Mercury said as he continued his push ups against the rug.

"Hmmm one." Cinder punctuated as she waved the flash drive in her hand "But all he did was leave a sizable dent in the wall."

"Was it a star or more of a circle?" Mercury asked as he pushed himself back to his feet, rotating his arm as he did so.

"Hmmm…" Cinder paused raising a finger to her lips "I'd say he made more of a star."

Mercury laughed before sitting on the bed beside Emerald who scooted away in disgust.

"Anyway," Cinder began "Anything of note happen during the 'distraction?'"

Both Emerald and Mercury shot each other looks before looking back to Cinder.

"What?" Cinder asked with a frown.

"Well, you're familiar with Roxas of team Purger right?" Emerald began.

"Yeah, the one Demyx told us about." Cinder nodded.

Well… Demyx might have low balled us a bit on his 'abilities'." Mercury said flatly.

Cinder's frown deepened "What do you mean?"

"Well, rumors are going around that he was at the Grimm ball Stadium during the attack."

"So?" Cinder asked having only just gotten back to the dorm.

Emerald and Mercury both shot a glance at each other "That place was jam packed with people, we're talking hundreds here. All of them absolutely terrified from essentially a warzone going on around them. A Grimm super magnet if you will."

Cinder growled impatiently "Get to the point already."

Emerald looked nervous "He reportedly was sent there to support team Coffee, two of its members at that point having already been downed from the fight. The other two soon following."

Frowning, Cinder concluded "So he got overrun and managed to make it out alive?"

Emerald shook her head "Not only that. He managed to save almost everyone there after getting them down to the access tunnels."

Cinder's eye's blinked as they grew wide.

"That would mean-"

"He managed to stop each and every Grimm that came after that Grimm super magnet of people, we're talking literal thousands of Grimm."

Cinder's mouth was ajar as Mercury continued "That's not even the best part, apparently, he did all that after having to deal with the hoards his team was dealing with at an entirely different station. Which I'm told was no walk in the park either."

The room filled with silence.

"Cinder," Emerald began "Someone with that kind of power could seriously-"

"Mess with out plans- I know!" Cinder snapped annoyed. The young woman raised a hand to her face as she pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes in frustration.

"We need a plan to deal with him Cinder," Mercury said crossing his arms.

"I know…" Cinder growled in response before her eyes snapped open in realization, a smile slowly rose from her cheeks as she looked across the room at Emerald and Mercury.

"You know what I just realized?" she said with a devious grin.

Emerald raised an eyebrow "What?"

"If Roxas is truly able to do all of that, then that would mean a certain blonde who also likes to wear a black coat has been being bashful about his abilities as well."

Looks of realization washed over both Emerald's and Mercury's features.

"Demyx?" Emerald asked incredulously.

"No way is that space cadet that strong." Mercury said shaking his head.

"It doesn't matter if he isn't quite as stronger as little boy wonder at peak condition." Cinder said with an evil grin "Just as long as he's stronger than little boy wonder while he's down in the infirmary."

Both Emerald and Mercury shot each other looks that read 'why didn't we think of that?'

"So then," Cinder began "Let's start to plan."

* * *

-Beacon Academy, halls-

"Man am I beat." Yang said her arms pushed out in a stretch towards the ceiling.

"I'm sure most of us are." Ruby commented with slouched shoulders. Walking with the two girls were the rest of team Rainbow as well as team Purger with Namine and Weiss quickly following behind.

"I'm going to sleep good tonight." Jaune commented mid-yawn before a wave of yawns ran through the rest of the group.

"Hah, I infected all of you." He remarked playfully still struggling to keep his eyes open.

The group walked silently for a few minutes before pausing as Namine and Weiss had reached their dorms.

"Night Weiss! Namine!" Ruby announced chipper as the girls slipped into their dorms, wishing the rest of the group a good night before closing the door behind them. Namine was across the room in moments before the squeaking noise of her bed's springs split the air as her body made impact with the soft material.

"Mhmm, feels so gooood." She said her words muffled by the pillow she had buried her face into.

Weiss's lips pulled into a light smile as she observed her team member. She sat down on her own bed and slowly began to remove her shoes letting her feet relax from the pressure of her heels.

A sigh escaped her lips as her eyes wandered about the room aimlessly before landing on the desk she often used for studying. The girl looked over her shoulder towards where Namine's limp form was collapsed on the bed. After a few minutes, Weiss felt certain that the girl had fallen asleep.

Weiss slowly rose to her feet once more, wincing at the pains in her calves and thighs from the night's earlier events. Her feet moved lightly over the wood floor, careful not to make a sound before she gently positioned herself on the chair facing the desk.

Very slowly, the girl reached out and began to pull a drawer from the desk, her eyes watching to make sure Namine's form wouldn't stur from the noise.

She didn't.

Weiss breathed a sigh of relief upon fully opening the drawer and retrieving from it a small leather bound book. She set the book quietly on top of the desk before retracting her arms to her sides, her eyes wandering over the book's exterior with a serious expression. A deep frown found itself on the girl's face as she continued to stare at the book for several minutes without a word.

Her mind played a mental back and forth Ping Pong game as she made the same debate she usually did when she and the journal were left alone.

It could have crucial information that could help Roxas in the long run!

If he wanted you to know he would have told you.

Roxas can be spacy, there's a chance that he doesn't realize that something so vital hasn't been said!

Roxas is also smart. He may be spacy, but he doesn't forget what's important.

He could have forgotten this time!

You should return it to him first thing in the morning, or whenever he wakes up… hopefully soon…

It's not like I'm gonna look any less guilty if I return it now! It's been a month!

That doesn't make it right. He's special to you.

Weiss breathed a sigh of defeat as she came to the same conclusion she'd had every time prior since she'd taken the book from The Castle That Never Was. With eyes filled with disappointment she reached out to put the diary away as she'd done many nights before. Holding the book loosely in her hand she began to pull the drawer open with her other. She motioned to place the diary back in the drawer when she misjudged the edge of the drawer with the edge of the book as the two collided in a small bang. Before the Schnee could react the book slipped from her hand and struck the floor with a loud BANG.

Weiss's head whipped around, her eyes wide as they looked towards where Namine had been sleeping. To her surprise, the girl had yet to stur.

Weiss breathed a sigh of relief before kneeling and reaching down to pick up the book before her fingers froze just a few inches away from the diary. The book had struck it's spine when it fell, opening to a random page, Weiss's eyes grew wide as they scanned over the words, a sweat running down her face.

Day 24: Entry 8

I teamed up with No. XIV again today. We finally talked a little—Xion even said my name for the first time.

Afterwards I had ice cream by myself again. The lady at the shop said you can trade the WINNER stick for an extra bar. But I can't eat more than one.

"Xion…" Weiss quietly rolled the name around in her mouth, it felt… familiar, but the girl couldn't distinguish why.

Her hand slowly continued to the floor and picked the book up, but she didn't close it, instead, she found herself slowly bringing the open book closer to her face to better read the words in the dim light.

Then she turned the page.

* * *

-Later, Purgur dorms-

"You know… I've been thinking." Jaune said as his eyes stared up at the ceiling above. His back was flat against his bed as he arms hung limply to his sides.

"Uhoh," Ruby cracked a tired smile at her joke. She was also laying on her bed, sprawled out. It was only the two of them in the room at the time, Pyrrha had left to meet with professor Goodwitch over a paper she'd been handed back that wasn't hers.

Jaune rolled his eyes with a playful smile plastered on his face before continuing "The dance is coming up soon, I'm sure you've noticed with all the fliers being hanged up."

Ruby raised an eyebrow, just realizing that what her team leader was saying was true, "Huh… yeah you're right aren't you? I completely spaced it."

Jaune laughed "Just like you to space something like that. I doubt boys are even on your radar right now."

"Riiight…" Ruby said nonchalantly as she hoped he wasn't looking to notice the heat rising in her cheeks.

Jaune paused, his expression serious as he continued to stare up into the ceiling.

"It's just a few weeks away now…"

"So?" Ruby asked with a raised eyebrow. She could tell that he was trying to get to a point.

"So… well…" The boy paused, his tone reluctant.

Ruby giggled before saying "Just spit it out already! We're teammates you can trust me!"

A sigh escaped the blonde's lips before he said "I have feelings, feelings for… Weiss… that is."

Ruby's eyes grew wide before her mouth shaped into a long O. Stifling her shock, the girl responded "Really? I had no idea!"

"Yeah I'm not particularly loud about it."

Ruby could hear the insecurity in his voice. She sat up, looking over at where he'd turned his back towards her "Why not? If you feel that way… shouldn't you tell her?"

"Do you think I haven't tried?" The young man said as he sat up from his bed, back still turned to Ruby, a sigh escaped from his lips as he shoulders slumped "I'm completely head over heels for her, and she won't even give me a chance. She's cold, but she's also incredible, she's smart, and graceful and talented, I mean have you heard her sing?!... I just wish she would take me seriously y'know?" He sighed, his head bobbing as it hung low. "I-I wish I could tell her how I feel without messing it all up…" he paused before continuing "And this breach, that fight down in Vale… almost losing Roxas like that… It made me realize that the life of a Huntsman and Huntress is a dangerous one… a truly dangerous one. And one day, I might be too late. One day It might happen that I or Weiss don't make it through a mission. And I'll have never told her how I truly feel about her." His head hung low as he finished.

"Then do it."

Both Ruby's and Jaunes heads turned towards the door as Pyrrha stepped in, continuing as she said "Tell her exactly what you've just said. No ridiculous schemes, no pick up lines… Just.. be honest." she approached the young man as she met his eye, giving him a reassuring smile.

"But, what if-"

"Jaune," She interrupted "You can't get it wrong if it's the truth."

The two shared a look with one and other, a smile slowly rising from Jaune cheeks as he nodded "You're right." rising to his feet he said "Thanks Pyrrha. Good talk Ruby!" before making his way to the door. The two girls watched as the boy left the room after which Pyrrha slowly made her way over to head bed, her head hung low as she sat.

The girl breathed a sigh before looking up and seeing Ruby with a peculiar expression on her face.

"You okay Ruby?" Pyrrha questioned.

"Huh?" The girl said her eyes blinking rapidly seemingly having been lost in a daydream.

Pyrrha's eyes were sad but she forced a smile "I asked if you were okay."

Ruby nodded, not paying attention to Pyrrha's expression as she said "Yeah I'm fine… I just, it's just that something he said made a lot of sense."

Pyrrha's head tilted to the side "What's that?"

"Just…" Ruby began, her voice growing quieter "Telling them before it's too late… it… kinda spoke to me."

Pyrrha smiled at her teammate "Do you have a special someone too?"

A bright blush ran through Ruby's cheeks as she quickly turned away, stammering "N-No! I just, uh, it just spoke to me is all."

Pyrrha covered her mouth as she laughed "Oh well now I'm sure that there is someone." she said playfully, her voice still quiet, and sad.

Ruby turned back towards the red head, finally taking a moment to examine her slumped shoulders, her hanging head, and her sad eyes.

"Are… you okay Pyrrha?" Ruby asked slowly with a tilt to her head.

The young amazoness nodded "I'll be fine."

Ruby paused, reviewing the conversation a minute prior before asking "... do you have a special someone Pyrrha?"

The girl released a sad laugh in response "I guess you can say that. Yeah."

"Then you should tell them." Ruby continued "Listen to Jaune. It's better to tell them… before it's too late."

Pyrrha's forced smile finally faded as she stared into Ruby's eyes with a contemplative look. Several seconds went by before Pyrrha answered "Maybe Ruby… just maybe…"

* * *

-Later, Infirmary, Beacon-

Roxas's eyes were closed, but there was movement behind the lids as his face took a puzzled expression. Every now and then his lips would let out a quiet 'huh?' or a intelligible sound.

He was suddenly standing in front of a man all dressed in blue. His face was serious and he wore what Roxas could only describe as a tall blue wizard's hat as he sat behind a large oak desk speaking to him, but Roxas couldn't tell what he was saying. Before he knew it he was standing in a different room with three older woman dressed in red, blue, and green respectively. They flew wildly about him, shooting puffs of green, red and blue until eventually they all fired at once, prompting for Roxas to look down at what they'd done to his clothes.

To his surprise, he found himself in an entirely different attire consisting of black, yellow and red. His lower body was covered with some baggy shorts stretching all the way down to his shins with yellow belts wrapping around his waist and thighs. His torso had a small jacket that had a sliver metallic lining and a hoodie just underneath with red pockets.

Over all, Roxas felt cool.

Suddenly, the vision faded away and roxas was left in darkness for several seconds.

The vision abruptly came back in a bright flash as he was suddenly talking to a bright red little lizard creature and a young man in older military garb who had suspiciously feminine facial features. They were laughing about something, and this time Roxas spotted Donald and Goofy out of the corner of his eye.

What is going on?

Roxas asked himself as suddenly the vision shifted again and he was plunged into an area that he actually recognized.

This is… the castle! With the beast!

He thought in panic as his footsteps carried him around a corner of the otherwise luxurious appearing hallway and was met face to face with the beast. Roxas felt his heart stop for a moment but for some reason the person he was seeing through didn't seem fazed as he regarded the beast as a friend, and he, Beast, Donald and Goofy all continued down the steps.

.

.

.

Roxas gasped loudly as his body shot up, tossing the blankets previously covering his torso onto the floor in a scrambled heep. The teen continued to take several loud breaths as he tried to calm himself.

"What… what was that?" he asked himself quietly, his eyes focusing downward towards his legs. After a taking a minute to calm himself he suddenly noticed that his left arm was completely smothered in bandages. One continues bandage ran down his arm to his fingers which were also completely covered in white.

"Whoa… " He muttered under his breath before averting his eyes to assess the rest of his body. His torso was wrapped in white covering his stomach and his left upper chest wrapping around his shoulder. His other arm thankfully wasn't completely covered in which but it was notable that his forearm had been wrapped up as well.

"Jeez," He said raising his arms and marveling at his injuries, which surprisingly stung very little "How badly did I get beat down?"

Roxas lifted his head as he heard the sound of heels clicking against the painfully white tiles. The on staff nurse came into view, startling upon noticing that Roxas was sitting up and awake.

"Oh! Uh! You're... we didn't expect to see you up for at least another week…" He was a thin man, mature in his jaw line with otherwise shaggy black hair. His expression read puzzled as he studied Roxas with a raised eyebrow before shrugging with a grin "Well I guess that doesn't matter. I'll have someone notify your team, I'm sure that they'll want to know that you're back up." He turned on his heel and began to walk away; Before he got far he stopped and looked over his shoulder, addressing Roxas once more "Oh, and don't move from that bed, you might be awake but that doesn't mean that you've recovered. I don't want you to strain yourself thinking that you're back at one hundred percent… especially considering the condition you were in when we got you…" Roxas shot the man a puzzled look before he smiled and said "Just, relax for a bit. I'll get your friends and you some food. I'm sure you're starving after how long you've been out."

The boy nodded as he watched the man step out of the his attention to his arms, he flashed a toothy grin.

A normal kid might have to stay bedridden as his wounds healed up,

He thought as he lifted one stinging arm and hovered his hand over it,

But not everyone has access to cure!

His lips parted as he uttered the spell "Curaga."

Immediately a searing pain ignited within his head resulting in a sharp cry of anguish as two hands clutched the sides of his face. The pain continued for several seconds as he shut his eyes trying to push out whatever was driving through his skull at the moment. When he was finally able to open his eyes once more he found himself on the ground as the sound of rushing footsteps approached.

"I told you not to get up!" The nurse scolded as he slowly helped the now shaking boy to his feet and back to his bed. Roxas sat down with an perplexed expression on his face.

"Uh," He began still trying to understand what he'd just gone through "Sorry, thought I was, more healed I guess."

The nurse shook his head "After just three days? Think again kiddo."

Roxas's eyes grew large as he looked back at the man "THREE DAYS?" He repeated incredulously.

"Well yeah, what did you expect after all that you did you little legend?" The nurse snickered.

"...legend?" Roxas repeated head cocked to the side.

The man paused giving Roxas a peculiar stare before realization flashed in his eyes "Ohhhh you haven't heard the rumors yet because you've been out cold! That's right!" the man playfully bopped himself in the forehead with his palm.

"Rumors?" Roxas again repeated the man's words.

The man flashed Roxas a toothy grin "Oh no I'm not gonna be the one to spoil that for ya. I think I'll let some of your classmates do that for ya. Speaking of which I still have to go about notifying them. So, if you'll listen this time around and lie down, I'll be able to go get your friends."

Roxas nodded laying back on his bed once more as the nurse turned on heel and left the infirmary once more. Roxas played around with the idea of casting Cure again on himself but ultimately decided against it not wanting to risk causing that nauseating headache once more. His eyes wandered across the room for several seconds studying his surrounding when he realized that there were no other kids in the infirmary with him. All the other beds were empty.

Roxas raised an eyebrow at this as he'd assumed that the battle for Vale would have led to at least some other kids getting injured like how team Coffee had been. He thought this over for several seconds before realizing why he was the only one left.

I've been here for three days now, I'm sure that this place was jam packed directly following the attack. But noting how quickly students here heal with their aura, it makes sense that it would empty quick.

His eyes continued to wander across the room when out of the corner of his eye he caught a dash of color that made him turn his head. Sitting on a small bedside table were three vibrantly colored sea shells resting in a short line.

Roxas stared stunned at the sea shells as his lips parted slack jawed.

"Who… how?" Roxas was completely astonished that someone would know what this gesture meant to him, who would know what this gesture meant to him?

Very slowly, his hand reached out and picked one of the sea shells from the table and brought it to his ear.

The faintest sound of the ocean played through his ear drums as he fought the urge to cry. He felt the back of his eyes growing heaving as he continued to listen to the sounds of the waves.

As he listened, a single name came to his mind as his lips slowly murmured "...Xion…"

Just then, a burst of footsteps came from the entrance of the infirmary turning Roxas's head towards the noise. He saw the faces of Yang, Ruby, Weiss, Namine, Jaune, and Pyrrha all rushing towards his bed. Following at a walking pace were the faces of Ren, Nora, and Blake

"Roxas!" Namine called out as she reached the young man first wrapping him up in a tight hug which he awkwardly reciprocated.

"Um, hi guys." he said with a smile "Did ya miss me? Ow!" he suddenly called out feeling the girl press up against one of his bandaged cuts.

"Sorry!" The blonde said with a worried expression as she pulled away from the boy.

Roxas laughed at her worriment "Don't sweat it. I'm fine, I'm fine."

"You most certainly are not fine!" Weiss scolded taking the boy's arm and raising it with a pointing gesture "Do you see how bandaged up you are right now?"

Ruby giggled "You look like a half done mummy right now Roxas."

There was a pause as the group looked over at Ruby as she smiled impishly as her joke before the room erupted in laughter.

"Hey, is there any room for us here?" Sounded a voice at the back of the group.

The group collectively turned to see the faces of Team Coffee standing there with smiles on their faces.

The group parted as the 2nd years approached Roxas's bedside. They'd healed remarkably quick, with only a small bandage on Coco's cheek and a relatively small bandage covering Yatsuhashi's forearm.

"Hey kid." Coco remarked with a smile "I'm glad to see you made it after all that bravado. It would have been a great shame to see such a strong Huntsman in training go down after all that."

"Coco," Velvet said in a parently tone before stepping forward "We came here to thank you properly now that we're each, uh, well awake." She smiled at her little joke.

Yatsuhashi was the next to speak as he looked down on Roxas with a warm smile "Yeah, for a first year, you really know how to hold your own in a fight. I've never seen anything like it."

Roxas smiled back.

"Fox." Coco said giving the young man a light tap against the lower region of his backside which he pretended to ignore as he stepped forward. His gaze was a lot more serious and menacing than the others as he looked down on Roxas. It made the teen nervous.

"You… you really save our asses out there kid. I didn't get to see you fight. But I wish I had." he flashed an uncharacteristic grin at Roxas which he reciprocated with a smile.

Lastly it was time for Coco to step forward as she leaned at the waist towards the boy until they were face to face "You were absolutely incredible out there Roxas. Take pride in what you did, and all the lives you managed to save. Including our own." She paused giving him a smile that he could only describe as beautiful "And if you were just a little bit older, I might just be thanking you with a date, but…" she paused mid sentence as she leaned forward and pressed her lips against the young man's cheek and causing a wave of commotion from the group of first years behind her.

"I guess that will have to do for now." she flash him another beautiful smile before straightening her back and turning to walk past the two teams without batting an eye. Yang was grinning ear to ear as both Ruby and Weiss adopted expressions of absolute shock. The rest of the group were ranging somewhere in between.

As Coco began to walk away her team quickly fell in step behind her "Besides!" She began with a wave goodbye "We've got an 'away mission' to attend to. So You'll have to wait for the next time you see me!" and a moment later, team Coffee exited the room.

The group pulled their eyes away from the 2nd years back towards where Roxas was sitting bewildered on the bed. The young man had raised a hand to his face, feeling that his cheeks were warm, but not understanding why.

"Oh my god! I can't believe that-!"

"The gall! Without any consent!? You could prosecute if you wanted! In fact I-"

"Haha looks like someone has some more compet-"

"Man Roxas gets all the pretty-"

The group became a bumbling mess as they each began to speak over each other trying to get a word in about what had just happened.

"Um, can I get a word in?" Roxas asked abruptly.

The group suddenly silenced, curiosity peaked at what Roxas had to say about the matter.

"What does it mean when a person does that?" He asked with a tilt to his head.

The room was silent before bursting into laughter.

* * *

AN:

What what? Yet another update within the week? What can I say? I've gotten my mojo back (and an ample amount of writing time).

That being said, I've also finally developed a smart means of formatting my outlines to my story that's really been helping with writing the chapters. I actually have the entire next chapter fleshed out in outline form and will probably be working on that following this one.

This chapter is noticeably shorter than the previous one (That one is currently the largest chapter I have ever written to date in fact) but this chapter still exceeds the chapter length minimum by over 20% so I hope that's enough to satisfy you all!

I hope you all enjoy the chapter as a lot more is coming in the next one as you all will most likely be able to tell by this one lol.

Ps: I want to get a vote in the reviews for how you feeling about the follow:

Namine and Weiss have yet to form a complete four man team, Neptune and Sun are the only two within their respective team that actually have any character depth (the other two are just faces with weapons) so, my proposition, what if the two groups formed a team together?

I recognize that Sun and Neptune are from a different place only coming in for the vital festival but… still, it's just an idea :-)

PPS: I've finally finished the KH3 game and since I know I'll be getting a flood of people wanting to hear my thoughts. I'll go ahead and post my overall review of the game below. That being said-

THE FOLLOWING WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR KINGDOM HEARTS 3. IF YOU HAVE NOT FINISHED THE GAME OR PLAN TO GET IT PLEASE STOP READING NOW.

Now with that out of the way, I'll proceed to provide my thoughts on the game :-)

I thought that the initial worlds were done well enough and as EVERYONE has already gone over, the graphics are absolutely GORGEOUS.

I had a smile plastered on my face through toy story, frozen, big hero 6, and ESPECIALLY the pirates of the caribbean. That world sparked my past assassins creed black flag obsession HARD and I explored EVERYWHERE across that map. By far my favorite world of the game accompanied by my favorite keyblade of the game.

After that the game really picked up and I suddenly couldn't put it down from the saving of aqua, to the revival of Ventus, to the final battle against xehanort. It was all excellent. And you KNOW I was grinning ear to ear when my boy Roxas suddenly beamed down and has his scene of ABSOLUTE BAD ASSERY

I liked how when Ventus and Roxas stood next to each other, they each carried themselves differently differentiating them through more than just clothes.

And as for that ending, yeah no, Sora is fine. It's on record from the creator of Kingdom Hearts that 3 just ties up the big bads established thus far. New baddies are to come and Kingdom Hearts is not over by any means, so Sora is coming back, I'm not worried at all.

(I just hope that I get to play my boy Roxas in some of the games moving forward now that he's back and at peak form)

Now, for my complaints.

Despite the few plot holes I found and a few spotty pieces of dialog, I found that all passable (It's a Kingdom Hearts game, what do we expect?)

My only real complaint was how blatantly easy it was. I put it on proud mode expecting a challenge like that of Dream drop distance or even 358 days but no. I breezed through the game with only a handful of deaths to speak of. I didn't fall once against the otherwise epic boss fights in the finale of the game. I didn't even lose to the final FINAL boss fight against Xehanort. It felt like I didn't earn it when I won, and it was my only complaint.

Anyhow, those are my thoughts on the game! I hope they satisfied!


	31. Chapter 31:Understanding Love

"Hmm hmm hmm," Demyx quietly hummed to himself as he sat atop his bed resting his back against the wall for support. His fingers peacefully strummed away at his Sitar forming a calm yet intricate melody that drifted through the air, bouncing off the walls and back to the Nobody's ears as a faint smile pulled at his lips.

The White Fang had given him a room of his own within their base of operations as per Cinder's request. And whenever he got a chance he'd return to it and enjoy his music.

It was a simple room. Plain tan walls wrapping around a space of only 12 by 10 feet. His bed was modest, a twin fit to house only a single recipient. He had several sets of clothing which he hung in the small closet north of the room across from his blue sheeted bed. He had a small mini fridge in the corner of the room he'd begged Emerald to get for him as they'd been passing a store. He didn't have much to store in it, mostly just drinks he'd picked up whenever he decided to go down to the commercial district and see what new things he could find. Recently he'd decided to stock up on snacks from abandoned stores in the district. He'd been told that soldiers were going to arrive to clear out the remainder of Grimm still in the area so that they might repopulate the district. Upon hearing this, he made sure that his fridge was filled to the brim before that happened.

He was wearing a simple set of shorts and a T-shirt, his hair in disarray as he continued to play away on his Sitar when suddenly the door to his room swung open. Demyx's last note split the air before slowly fading as his fingers stopped strumming at the strings.

Cinder walked in with a serious look on her face. Demyx raised an eyebrow as he noticed the young woman in a standard school uniform and skirt instead of her usual red attire.

Demyx whistled as she approached dragging behind her a normal four leg chair "Gotta say Cinder I'm digging the new look! Makes you look ten years younger!"

Cinder didn't say a word as she positioned the chair in front of the young Nobody and sat down, crossing her legs as she did so. Her lips pursed forming a frown.

"Not saying that you look old of course!" Demyx continued "I mean, look at you, you can only be, what, 20 or something? You know you're pretty young to be doing this whole 'world domination thing' has anyone ever told you that?"

Cinder's gaze never wavered as she continued to stare bullets into the man.

A minute passed as the woman continued to glare into Demyx who shifted uncomfortably under her gaze.

"You know, you caught me at an awkward time. I'm kinda in some 'too short' shorts if ya know what I mean. If ya give me a second I can-"

"You've been keeping secrets **Demyx**." Cinder suddenly interrupted.

The way she punctuated his name sent a shiver down his spine "I uh… I have?"

Cinder nodded "You have. You never told us of just how _strong_ this little _Roxas_ kid is."

An audible gulp sounded from the Nobody's throat "I- uh, is that right?"

Cinder nodded again, her eyes never leaving the man "It is, which means that we have to have a talk, **now.** "

* * *

 **-Beacon Academy, Library-**

Roxas's legs slowly carried him into the library, his face and body still bandaged, but most of it had been covered up by his student uniform. He'd been restricted to his bed for 2 more days until the nurse cleared him for 'minimal activity' allowing him to go about his day, slowly albeit. Thankfully Ozpin had issued a two week long rest period for the students of Beacon since Vale's breach as a sort of 'thank you' to the students, meaning that Roxas hadn't missed any class in the meantime. More importantly though, he didn't have any homework to make up for.

Roxas had breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing that.

As he'd walked the halls down to the library he noticed that he had more eyes on him than usual. Several students had stopped mid-walk to stare as he passed by them slowly, still limping slightly. Many of them would smile as they recognized him, giving him high fives while saying things like 'you're a beast man' or 'marks of a hero'. At one point, he even had Cardin's team come up to him and give him a surprisingly delicate group hug, each congratulating him on his efforts.

"When I heard the story, I knew that if _anyone_ was even capable of doing what you did, it would be you." Those were the words Cardin parted him with before suggesting that they should hang out sometime as well. In fact, Roxas had several teams ask if he wanted to come over to their dorm to hang out for awhile, and more than one girl offered him to come to their dorm where they seemed adamant in specifying that they would be _alone_ for some reason.

Roxas had politely turned down the offers, stating that he had a place to be at the moment but reassuring them that he would visit some other time to get them to let him go.

The young man slowly made his way to a terminal where he plopped down on the chair a little _too_ casually before wincing in pain as a slash running along his shoulder blade struck the back of the chair.

"Gonna have to be a little more careful for a little while…" Roxas murmured to himself as his fingers began to type away at the keyboard. Despite a morning full of distractions, his mind was still focused on a single question he'd maintained for two days straight now.

"What… does… a kiss… mean?" He spoke the words under his breath as he typed them out in the search bar.

.

.

.

After an hour of research, he'd come to several conclusions which he'd chosen to write down on a notepad he'd brought with him for specifically this purpose.

' _ **Kiss Notes'**_

 _ **-A kiss is something that typically has a strong emotion tied to it. Usually has a romantic nature to it. Meaning that the Kisser views the recipient as someone they potentially want to have a 'relationship' with.**_

Roxas double underlined the word 'relationship' with a red pen to indicate to himself that further research had to be done on that term specifically. From what he gathered, it meant that the person didn't want the recipient kissing anyone else. But that's as far as he researched the word before returning to the original topic.

' **Kiss Notes continued'**

 **-A kiss does not always convey the previously mentioned emotions. A kiss on the lips does typically express these signs, but a kiss on the cheek can have a range of meanings often left for the recipient to understand.**

Roxas had groaned at this.

 **-A kiss on the cheek can be a friendly sign of affection similar to that of a hug.**

 **-A kiss on the cheek between family is a sign of affection much like this.**

 **-A kiss on the cheek can also be interpreted as a joke, or a punchline of some variety.**

 **-A kiss on the cheek can be used to let someone down if the recipient had previously 'had feelings' for the kisser.**

Again, Roxas underlined the phrase 'had feelings' for later research.

 **-A kiss on the cheek can be a sign that the kisser wants the other dead.**

Roxas had stopped reading when he'd initially saw that piece of information, staring at it dumb founded as he tried to wrap his head around all the things that a simple 'kiss' could symbolize.

Roxas sighed as he looked down at the notes he'd been able to gather. A frown maintained on his face as he reread the short paragraph's worth of lines in his head over and over again. While the search wasn't a hard one to make, it was more of a matter of deciphering what the articles meant in their writing as often the term 'kissing' was used in conjunction with 'love' and other terms the former Nobody was unfamiliar with.

This short paragraph had taken just over an hour to compile as he'd write something down, read the next sentence of his article and then have to go back to correct the initial assumption he'd had prior in his notes.

Finally the boy sighed shaking his head in a negative gesture.

"I think that's enough for today…" He grumbled to himself as he collected his notes and went to close the tabs he'd left open in his research. Just as his cursor hovered over the last tab, he caught movement in the corner of his eye, prompting him to turn his head.

Standing just beside him staring him down with a deep frown was none other than Blake Belladonna, her arms crossed with her eyes narrowed.

"Uh, hi Blake." Roxas mutter awkwardly as he continued to stare up at her with a confused expression.

She scowled as she said "We need to have a talk, **Now.** "

* * *

 **-Beacon, Dorms-**

"Did he or did he _not_ say that Roxas was gonna be unconscious for a week?" Mercury said, annoyance dripping from his voice as he watched Emerald pace back and forth through the room. He was sitting on one of the beds with his face buried in his hand.

"The nurse's words were clear! But apparently little boy wonder had one more wonder in him which was to WAKE. UP. EARLY!" Emerald spat the last words.

Mercury threw up his arms in exaggerated defeat "Well, that's it! Plan over! One of us has to tell Cinder the news when she gets back."

Emerald froze midstep, her eyes wide before spinning on her heel and making eye contact with Mercury.

The two remained silent as they stared at each other for several seconds.

"Not it!"

"Not- ah god damn it!" Mercury swore, slamming a hand against the pillow beside him.

Emerald did a small victory dance before pointing a condescending finger at the boy "Hah! This time it's you who has to give her the bad news! I hope you're ready to be cooked because this is the second one in a row and I doubt-"

" _Who's_ ready to be cooked?" Said a seductive voice from the doorway. Heads turned as Mercury and Emerald both stared with wide eyes at the slender figure of Cinder standing in the doorway.

"Uh, I, well-" Emerald turned back towards Mercury "You're up loser!" before moving to the other bed and sitting down.

Mercury sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as Cinder stepped into the room and shut the door behind her.

"What is it that you have to tell me Mercury?" Cinder said approaching slowly.

The young man sighed again before looking up and meeting Cinder's gaze. The woman was standing right in front of him now.

"Roxas is back up." Mercury said bluntly. "He woke up four days ahead of time. Which means our plan is a bust."

A smile slowly curled from Cinders lips, leaving Mercury to raise an eyebrow confused.

"Oh? Is that all now?" Cinder began stepping away from the young man "I already know that. I passed him on my walk here."

"You… already know?" Emerald repeated "And… you're not mad?"

"Not one bit Emerald." Cinder confirmed, her eyes peering out the window "Because it changes nothing… _in fact…_ " She turned back to the two, watching their expressions "I'd even go to say that makes things even _easier_ for our plan."

Emerald and Mercury each shot a look to each other before Mercury asked simply "How…?"

A low laugh slipped from Cinder's lips before she said "First, I think I should disclose to you two one of the fascinating pieces of information I was able to probe from our little _slacker_ back at the hideout."

"... and what's that?" Emerald asked leading back on the bed now.

"Apparently, Demyx and all of the Organization members have access to a unique tool by which he calls 'Cure', or 'curaga' rather. The effects of which completely heal the user and any other targets that are around the target. Leaving not a trace of damage."

Both Emerald and Mercury were slack jawed as they learned this message.

"You can't be serious." Mercury asked incredulously.

Cinder smiled at his disbelief "Oh trust me, I didn't believe it either. So, I decided to test this tool by slitting a clean cut through my hand and ordering for Demyx to heal it as proof."

Suddenly, Cinder raised her hand and presented her palm to the two.

"Now, do either of you see even a trace of a cut?" She asked with a smile on her lips.

"No…" Emerald confirmed, leaning forward to get a better view of her hand.

"But, so what?" Mercury said with a sigh as he fell back onto the bed "All that tells us is _how_ boy wonder was able to heal so quickly. The kid can magically restore himself because of course he can!"

"A fair assumption, but alas, that is incorrect." Cinder said with her grin widening.

"Huh?" Mercury sat back up "What do you mean?"

Cinder couldn't stop the grin now seeming permanently affixed to her face "Remember how I mentioned that I passed little boy wonder on the way here?"

"Yeah, it's how you knew he was back up and running." Emerald added casting the woman a curious gaze.

"Hmmm, I wouldn't use the term 'running' per say, more like _limping._ "

The two continued to stare at her confused.

Cinder let loose an annoyed sigh before continuing "Riddle me this: If you had the ability to heal yourself to full capacity after any injury, what's the first thing that you'd do when you get injured?"

"Well heal myself obviously." Mercury said as if the question was the dumbest one in the world.

"Exactly, so now, riddle me this: After two days of consciousness, why do you think Roxas is _still_ walking with a _limp_?"

Both Emerald and Mercury shared expressions of confusion, before a wave of realization hit them like a tsunami.

"He can't." Emerald began her eyes wide "He can't heal himself for some reason. He's still injured."

"Precisely." Cinder confirmed "Which means we haven't lost our window just yet."

"But…" Mercury began "Why can't he heal himself all of a sudden? Why would he abruptly lose such a strong ability?"

Cinder paused, thinking over the question for a few seconds before responding "While I was talking to Demyx he explained that this ability is linked to other abilities. That using abilities like these slowly drains the user until they can do them no more, or, at least not until they've rested well." Cinder paused to see if either of the two were getting at what she was saying. She could tell from the looks on their faces that they didn't "It behaves like a muscle, and like a muscle if you push it too far then I suspect that you can very well _strain_ it."

"So…what you're saying is that Roxas right now is not only physically weak, but you think his special powers are gone for the time being as well?" Emerald responded with raised eyebrows.

Cinder smiled "Now you're getting it. But that also means we're on a timer, one where we don't know when out time is up. _Meaning,_ we need to move fast."

"What do you need us to do?" Mercury asked as he rose to his feet.

"You," Cinder pointed "Are doing nothing, we can't risk you being found out in a fight. While the possibility is in fact _minimal,_ in the miraculous event that he somehow gets away, I can't have you two exposed before the time is right. So neither of you will be fighting him directly, I've already directed… others… on this matter."

Mercury slouched as he sat back down "That blows, I was actually getting a little excited to fight little boy wonder." he sighed as he laid back down.

Emerald appeared disappointed as well as she too leaned back "So what, you just swung by to tell us that we're not going to be apart of this little party?"

"Now just because I said that you two won't be fighting doesn't mean that you won't be playing a part in this… _party_ as you put it." She said meeting Emerald's gaze with a smile "More specifically, Emerald, you'll be playing a quite _vital_ role in this engagement. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to suggest that this entire operation hinders on your success."

Emerald's face lit up at this, a bright smile splitting her face "Alright then! What do you need me to do?" she said rising to her feet.

Cinder's lips rose into a devious smile "I need you to seduce him."

Silence filled the room as Emerald stared blankly at the petite woman in front of her.

"I'm sorry," Emerald said blinking "I think I misheard you Cinder, it almost sounded like you wanted me to-"

"Oh you heard me correctly." Cinder said with an unwavering smile "I need you to seduce him and lure him down to the Agricultural District of Vale. We have a very short window since we don't know how long it will be until his powers return and he's back to full strength. In most cases, we would be able to properly research the target and work around their schedule until they're in proper position to strike. But that would most likely be a time when he's back to full strength, and once again our window is gone. Which means we have to _force_ our target into a preferred environment. We can't attack him here _clearly_ , too many students to aid him. The Agricultural District is the most suitable place where we could take him down.".

"Well- but, you mean-" Emerald stammered before being cut off by Mercury's abrupt laughter. The girl shot him a dirty look which only prompted the man to laugh louder.

Doing her best to ignore Mercury, Emerald turned back to Cinder "There's got to be a better way to lure him down there than _that._ "

"Name it." Cinder said as she sat on the bed casually.

"What if we kidnap one of his team members?" Emerald spat out "Tell him to come alone and that we'll kill them if he tells anyone or brings anyone else."

"That would take the time to plan out one of team Purger's capture," Cinder retorted "Approximately a day's worth if we're lucky. A day or more of studying one of their routines waiting for a time that one of them is alone long enough to risk a capture. And we don't know if in that time Roxas could make a full recovery, and then boom! Window gone." Cinder said snidely "Plus it would put him on edge. He would know that he's expecting danger, giving him ample time to prepare, and we don't want that. We're trying to _ambush_ him Emerald, and in order to do that we need his guard to be down. Tell me, what puts a teen's guard down more than a date with a pretty girl?"

"I… I… I see your point." Emerald begrudgingly accepted. She could think of a plethora of methods to lure a target down to a prefered location, but they all took time, and this being such a time sensitive case…

"So… what should I do?" Emerald asked suddenly feeling uncomfortable, a slight blush rushing to her cheeks.

Cinder's grin grew "You can manipulate a person's mind to see _whatever_ they might want. Make yourself taller, heighten your skirt a bit, open your shirt. Make him see _whatever_ might lure a young man to go out with you." She laughed covering her mouth as she did so, "Besides, he's a boy going through puberty. How hard can it be?"

* * *

 **-Beacon, Library-**

"You've got some explaining to do." The girl in black said as her arms crossed just below her chest. Her amber eyes stared daggers into the boy as Roxas scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"I… well… what do you want to know?" He asked only staring back at her in brief glimpses. The girl had dragged him over to a corner of the library behind a massive stack of books for a relative amount of privacy.

"I know that you're related to the thefts leading up to the breach. Your ability to warp from place to place with that weird… flame thing of yours matches perfectly with how the robberies have been happening without even so much as a tripwire going off." she scowled "Pair that with the fact that I found you researching the White Fang attacks and it's almost a certainty that you're related."

She leaned inward, putting her face right in front of Roxas's, her eyes narrowing "So either _you_ are the one responsible for the thefts and were just checking to see if the cops had any leads on you last night." Roxas gulped as she pulled away still frowning as she said "Or, you _know_ the person behind these robberies. And have been trying to keep tabs on the guy ever since. Powers like that don't just _go around._ They have to be taught, and I doubt a lot of people know it, otherwise, it would be spreading like wildfire… _so_ -" she leaned in again looking Roxas right in the eyes "Spill it, who is it?"

Roxas's mouth dried as he stared into what would typically be stunning ambers eyes, but right now the boy could see nothing but malice. His mind raced to find an excuse, some sort of lie to cover up what he'd been doing and detaching himself from Demyx.

 _ **NO.**_

He suddenly thought to himself as his nervous expression fell away in placement of determination.

 _I'm tired of lying, of making up excuses and pretending I'm someone I'm_ _ **not**_ _. That's what the Organization had me doing, lying, pretending. I'm_ _ **done with it.**_

"Fine." He suddenly said with such conviction that Blake blinked with surprise, not expecting it to be easy.

"R-really?" She asked, the malice in her words replaced by bewilderment.

He nodded "I'm tired of lying. If you really want to know. I'll tell you. But not here." He looked around the relative privacy of the library.

"I'd rather tell you somewhere else. I don't want to cause a panic."

And with that, he grabbed the girl's hand and turned heel, leading her away.

.

.

.

The two emerged onto the rooftop ten minutes later, with Blake looking particularly annoyed by the wait.

Roxas let go of the girl's hand and sat at the edge of the platform, his feet dangling down. Blake stood in place rubbing her arm awkwardly.

Roxas looked over his shoulder at her "It's okay, I promise." He patted the spot beside him "Come, sit."

Blake slowly brought herself over next to Roxas before sitting down. The sun was just starting to set as it began to creep underneath the horizon.

The young girl suddenly turned towards Roxas with a sharp tongue and said "If you brought me up here to flirt I swear to everything you care about that I will-" She paused seeing Roxas's look of confusion staring back at her.

"...Flirt…?" The former Nobody rolled the term around in his mouth for a moment before recalling from his research what that entailed.

"Oh no no no! I promise That's not what's going on here!" He said motioning with his hands as he did so before pausing and asking with a puzzled face "Why did you think it was?"

"Well…" Blake turned away towards the sunset "You brought me up alone to come watch the sunset… it's kinda romantic is all…" she rubbed her arm awkwardly as a light blush flared in her cheeks.

"Romantic…" This was romantic? He'd have to keep that in mind for later research.

"So," Blake continued turning back to the boy "I've waited, I've followed you to where you want to talk, so spill it already. How are you associated with these robberies and what do you know about the person responsible?"

Roxas's gaze fell away as he turned to face the sunset. A sigh escaped his lips, parting them, before he started to speak "I guess I was should start with Organization XIII…" turning back towards Blake he continued, meeting her gaze with an equally serious one "I was once a part of a group that called themselves 'Organization XIII'. They taught me how to fight, how to go about our missions… how to _live_ really." he paused, his gaze falling as his mind reflected his earlier days in the Organization "I lived with them for awhile… for most of my life actually now that I think about it... I was told that our goal was to become equal to everyone else, to become a _person_ again. We were told that we were _Nobodies_ and all we wanted to do as a result… was to become somebodies." He paused as a scowl consuming his expression "I realized later that was a **lie** , that we didn't need the organization to become whole, to become _real people._ They'd been using me, and everyone else, for their own selfish goals. Goals I no longer agreed with once I discovered the _truth_ about what they were doing." He took a breath as he shut his eyes, shaking his head as he suppressed his anger.

 _She isn't the one at fault for all of this, there's no reason to get angry here_

He thought when he opened his eyes to continue his story "So I ran away. I escaped and eventually, found my way here." he motioned to the school around them, turning back to look at Blake, he forced a smile "That's when I met all-...? You okay?" he asked studying her face.

When he'd turned back he'd expected an impatient girl still waiting for answers, probably a scowl of some variety. What he got instead… was shock.

Blakes eyes were wide open staring at him, her mouth slightly agape with an expression that Roxas could only consider… disbelief?

 _I purposely left out the weird stuff to let it make more sense… why is she…?_

Suddenly, Blake's eyes started blinking rapidly as she turned away, closing her mouth in the process "Sorry," she began "Just… you reminded me of… nevermind, just continue your story please."

Roxas's eyes narrowed at the girl before continuing "Not much else to tell really. The man responsible for the thefts has to be Demyx. Another member of my Organization who's followed me here. There's been others before him but… it looks like he's taken sides with the White Fang for some reason." Roxas shrugged "I can't imagine why, I just know that I'm the one responsible for it. And I'm the one that has to stop him, he acts like a goof ball, but under all that nonchalance is someone truly dangerous." Roxas sighed "I've been chased by my past ever since I got here… feels like I can never get away…"

"The past never goes away." Blake suddenly spoke "It's always right there with us…" she said, her eyes glazing over as the setting sun reflected off their amber irises.

It was Roxas's turn to study the girl. His lips parted to ask, but then shut.

 _It's not my place._

The boy rose to his feet, brushing himself off before saying "That's all there is really. That's why I was researching the white-" He paused, his eyes widening before narrowing. Roxas turned back towards where Blake was still sitting, staring into the sunset.

"Wait…" He began prompting the girl to look back towards him "Why were _you_ looking into the White Fang."

Blake's eyes widened in panic, her lips parted, then closed, then parted again before eventually she turned away to stare out at the orange glow of the sky. Roxas waited for several seconds.

With a sigh, the boy turned to walk away, assuming he wasn't going to get any answers when suddenly Blake's voice rang out "Would it shock you… if I told you that you're not the only one with a troubled past?"

The boy turned, raising an eyebrow before thinking the question over "... No, I don't think it would." he returned to the ledge, before sitting back down.

Blake choked out a half laugh before continuing "What's funny is… my story is pretty similar to yours… I… I was…" she sighed, collecting herself "I was once a member of the White Fang. I fought for them, I stole for them, I… _wronged_ for them." She sighed, pausing to turn her head to see Roxas's expression. She'd expected surprise, she'd expected disgust, she'd expected a thousand different responses, but instead she got…

Sympathy?

The blonde young man appeared sympathetic in his expression, his eyes sad as they stared back at her "Go on." he urged "Please."

Blake turned away, the shakiness gone from her voice as she continued "I was a member for most of my life actually, you can almost say I was born into it. Back then, things were different. In the ashes of war, the White Fang was meant to be a symbol of peace and unity between the Humans and the Faunas. Of course, despite being promised equality the Faunus were subjected to discrimination and hate, humanity still thought of us as lesser beings. And so, the White Fang rose up, as the voice of our people. And I was there, at the front of every rally, I took part of every boycott, and I actually thought we were making a difference. But I was just a youthful optimist."

She paused as her gaze casted downward before her lips parted once more "Then, five years ago, our leader stepped down and a new one took his place. A new leader, with a _new_ way of thinking." Roxas noticed her gaze hardened as she said this "Suddenly our peaceful protests were being replaced with organized attacks. We were setting fire to shops who refused to serve us. Hijacking cargo from companies who used Faunus labor. And the worst part was…" she turned to look Roxas in the eye "It was working. We were be treated like equals. But not out of respect…" she paused, turning away with a slight grimace "Out of fear." she sighed "so… I left, I decided I no longer wanted to use my skills to aid in their violence, and instead I would dedicate my life to becoming a Huntress. So, here I am, a criminal hiding in plain view." She paused looking Roxas up and down "All with the help…" as she spoke her hands slowly raised to her head, pulling at the bow atop her head "Of a little, black bow." as she pulled the bow away, Roxas's eyes widened.

Sitting a fixed atop her head, were two black, cat ears.

"You, you're a-" he pointed with a surprised expression.

"A Faunus." she confirmed, putting the bow back on her head "And no one else knows, so you have to promise you won't tell!" She pointed a dangerous finger into his chest.

Raising two defensive hands he said "I won't tell anyone, I promise!" Her glare intensified "I have experience keeping secrets if you haven't already noticed!" Roxas added with a sheepish smile.

Blake's harsh look faded as it was replaced with a smile "I guess we both do… huh?"

A minute passed as they sat quietly staring out at the sun before Roxas's voice broke that silence "Can I ask… one more question?"

"Shoot."

"Why… me?" He asked awkwardly, prompting Blake to turn towards him "You said that you haven't told anyone… so why risk your secret with me? I'm not a part of your team, and I mean... We sit together at lunch with our teams but, it's not like we talk a lot together and-" Blake raised a hand for him to stop, and so he did.

She smiled at him, and Roxas realised that Blake's smile was one he hadn't gotten the chance to see all that often "Honestly? I don't really know. I guess I just realized that… our stories are so similar, that maybe I've finally found a Human that can sympathize with my story, with my people… with my life." Her smile widened "And I feel like I have from the expression on your face."

Roxas blinked rapidly as he tried to distinguish how he must have been looking at her before turning away embarrassed "I, I don't know what you mean."

"It's in your eyes." she said, her smile fading "I can see hurt behind them. Hurt like mine."

He turned back towards the girl, meeting her gaze again. A smile rose in his cheeks as he studied them "I guess I see it too. In yours, I mean."

Her smile returned as she looked out towards the slowly setting sun "It feels good being able to be honest with someone for once."

Roxas turned back towards the sun too, a faint smile still resting on his lips "It does."

* * *

The two departed at the base of the steps, agreeing to talk again about stopping Demyx and the White Fang once Roxas was fully healed up. Roxas was walking down the hallway back towards the library to continue his studying before he felt a ringing in his pocket.

Pulling out his scroll, Roxas saw that it had a message from Ruby.

' _ **Can you meet me at the front of the school? I have something I want to talk to you about.'**_

Roxas raised an eyebrow at the message but shrugged and pocketed the device before making his way towards the front. He winced a little as he overstepped, tearing at a stitch in his thigh before slowing his pace.

A second later, he got a follow up message from Ruby.

' _ **PS: Wear normal clothes'**_

He raised a second eyebrow at this but complied, stopping by his dorm to change into the outfit Yang and Ruby had picked out for him before arriving a few minutes later to see Ruby in her typical battle skirt.

"Oh." he started seeing her "Should I have gotten my coat? I didn't know we were-" he stopped himself, remembering that his coat had been heavily damaged in the breach, and Weiss had told him it would take some time until it was properly repaired.

Ruby smiled at him the same cute smile he'd gotten so accustomed to over their months together. He smiled back instinctively.

"Don't worry about it Roxas. We're not fighting anything, I just, um-" the girl stumbled over her words as she scratched at her cheek with a finger "I just thought that I could treat you to dinner down in the residential district? For like, a reward for making it through what you had to down there... I'd offer to take you down to the commercial district, but you know… the breach and all."

Roxas nodded still smiling "Sure, I could eat. Plus I just looked up a bunch of weird stuff I wanna run by you if you don't mind."

Ruby raised an eyebrow as she gave him a weird look "Okay then hehe,"

The two began to walk before a feminine voice called out from behind "Hey! Roxas! Wait up!"

The two turned and caught sight of girl with brown skin and mint green hair running towards them before pausing as she stood in front of Roxas, breathing heavy as she tried to catch her breath.

Finally she did and Ruby noticed the girl casting Roxas a hard stare as she spoke. She was wearing the typical transfer student uniform of a black turtleneck and a black and white plaid skirt. Did Roxas know this girl?

"Hey Roxas! How's it going?" She spoke with a devious smile on her lips "I'm glad I found ya. You've been the talk of the school you know that?"

Roxas raised an eyebrow "I have?"

She laughed a pleasant laugh before lightly nudging the boy on the shoulder "You're funny, you know that?"

Roxas shrugged "I guess, um, can I help you…? I don't think I caught your name."

"The name's Emerald."

The wait she was looking at him made Roxas feel like he was a delicious meal she wanted to devour "Okay… Emerald. Can I help you? I was kinda busy."

"Oh I'm sure she can wait… um… Ruby, was it?" The girl said in a dismissing manner.

Roxas looked back and saw Ruby's eyebrows had angled inward with a tight frown.

Roxas looked back at Emerald, and this time his eyes were drawn downward and he noticed that her skirt was… _really high._

Roxas speculated that if it were any higher, he would probably see some…

"Ummm…." His eyes shot back up, but as they did he noticed that Emerald's button up uniform had been buttoned _down,_ revealing her upper torso and _much_ of her chest. But he hadn't seen her undo her top… had he?

"C'mon Roxas, I'm just trying to invite you out for dinner." She said lightly placing a hand on the boy's shoulder as she stepped forward. She was casting that same devious grin as she met his eye, bringing her face inches away from his. He could feel the heat of her breath against his lips and could smell her scent now. She was sweet.

"Well that's too bad because he's already agreed to to a dinner with **me**!" Ruby said as she took the boy by the arm and pulled him away.

Emerald blinked a few times as she focused her gaze on Ruby now "Oh really? Are you going down to the Grimm's Dessert down in the Agricultural District? I hear the ice cream is to die for."

Ruby's face pinched up as she regarded the young woman in front of them "If you must know I'm taking him for dinner at the Little Ursa!"

A grin split the young woman's face, but this time Roxas could tell it wasn't for the same reason as before.

She breathed a defeated sigh before shrugging "Welp, I guess you got to him first. Go enjoy your dinner you two." Just as Ruby and Roxas began to turn away to leave, she added "Oh and Roxas," she winked "We'll be seeing more of each other soon. 'Kay?"

Roxas merely shot her a puzzled look as he noticed the changes to her outfit had suddenly disappeared leaving her in the normal, typical transfer student uniform, but he was sure this time that he hadn't seen her adjust anything during their talk.

He eventually turned away, shaking his head as he attempted to rid himself of the thought.

Far behind him Emerald stood with a smile on her face before two figures stepped out from behind her on either side.

" _That_ was your attempt at flirting?" Mercury said trying to stifle a laugh "Coming on a little strong don't you think?"

"I found him just as he was about to leave, I had to move _fast._ " Emerald snapped at the boy.

"Oh you were _fast_ alright." Mercury quipped back earning him a punch to his arm.

"Regardless." Cinder interjected silencing Mercury's retort as he rubbed his bicep "I believe that you got what we needed based on the smile on your face."

Emerald turned towards Cinder and grinned "They're going to the Little Ursa down in the Residential district. It's not the Agricultural District like we wanted, but I figured that you'd be able to set up a plan now that he'll be more or less _alone_."

A slow smile rose from Cinder's lips "Oh, Emerald." She said cupping the girl's cheek with a slender hand "You know me so well."

* * *

 **-The Little Ursa-**

The two sat at a single table outside under the stars as they slowly faded in. The sun had all but set at this point, and the light it did cast shined on the two dimly.

Ruby was sipping on her sweet tea when Roxas asked "So… What is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

The girl suddenly spat out her drink before coughing profusely.

Wiping her face she stammered "We don't have talk about _thaaat_ right now, let's talk about… ummm…" Her eyes wandered sporadically before focusing back on Roxas "Your day!" She said with a bright smile "What did you do today? Anything interesting?"

Roxas gave her a smile that said 'your being weird' but decided to humor her anyway "Well I decided to go to the library to figure out what it meant when Coco gave me that kiss on the cheek." he leaned in close, his voice dropping to a whisper "Did you know that a kiss on the cheek can be meant either romantically _or_ as a friendly gesture?"

Ruby blinked twice before bursting into laughter. A bright flush filled Roxas's cheeks in embarrassment as he pulled back, his eyes focusing on his drink as Ruby continued to laugh.

"I'm, hehe, sorry for laughing at you." Ruby said as she wiped away a tear "It's just, you're so cute when you're finding out something for the first time."

Ruby felt a grin pulling at his face "I guess it is pretty funny what I said huh?"

"It really is." Ruby smiled back.

The two's evening proceeded smoothly, with Roxas asking questions about what he'd learned at the library and Ruby doing her best to explain through nervous tones and blushed cheeks. Finally their meals arrived. Ruby had selected some sort of pasta with clams on the side while Roxas had decided on some sort of crustacean of which he soon found he had no clue how to eat. The two had fun as they figured out how to break the shells open sending bits of shell and meat flying everywhere. Ruby and Roxas both squeaked as their faces were each splattered with the contents of Roxas's meal before smiling in delight from the fun of it all. They shared from each other's plates before engaging in a subtle food fight as Ruby flung a noodle into Roxas's hair. Roxas's grin was devil-like as he stared back at Ruby still smiling confidently.

Roxas was not one to back down from a fight.

Their food fight escalated until other customers sitting nearby began getting noodles on their clothes and the two were promptly asked to leave by two burly looking men and a woman with the tag 'manager' on her chest. This didn't stop their laughter however as Ruby paid their bill, leaving a large tip before the two dashed out of the restaurant hand in hand laughing madly the entire way out.

Soon they were walking side by side with the full moon sitting gently above them, the night sky cooling their skin as they occasionally pulled stray food particles off the other's clothing.

"You think we'll ever be allowed back at that place?" Roxas asked with a grin seemingly permanently affixed to his lips as he reached out and pulled a bit of shell away from Ruby's disheveled hair.

"No, probably not." She admitted with a smile as she reached out and peeled a noodle which had stuck to Roxas's back.

"Well, the food was good." Roxas commented.

Ruby snorted "I'm pretty sure that we threw more food than we actually managed to eat."

Roxas nodded trying to stifle a laugh but failing "Sorry, I should've said the food was good _at being thrown._ "

Their laughter could be heard from several blocks down.

"Ruby…?...Roxas? Is that you two?" Said a feminine voice from behind. The two turned in response with at first puzzled expressions, then shocked ones.

"Penny?" They said in unison.

The girl's bright orange hair bobbed as she smiled "It is! Sal-u-tations to the two of you!"

Roxas gave the girl an awkward smile "Funny meeting you here of all-" before pausing and turning to Ruby "Wait, you know her too?"

Ruby's lips parted to answer, but instead it was Penny's voice that rang through the air "We met when Ruby and her sister were shopping!" Penny answered with a bright smile.

Ruby gave a shrug and a smile that said 'it happened' before turning towards the girl "So what brings you out and about?"

Penny continued to smile as she answered "Oh! After the breach in the Commercial District my dad brought me here for the time being until things are cleaned up back there. He didn't want me wandering the streets because he doesn't like me talking to strangers though." She paused with wide eyes then before checking back and forth down the street with narrowed eyes.

The girl leaned in and whispered "Do you wanna know a secret?"

Ruby and Roxas leaned in, Ruby nodding her head with a raised eyebrow.

"I actually like talking to strangers." Penny said with a bright smile "It's how you make new friends!"

Ruby laughed "I guess that's true. But I think your dad meant that you shouldn't talk to strangers because it might be dangerous for you. Not everyone is as friendly as us." she pointed out.

Penny shook her head "Oh no! You don't have to worry about me one bit! I'm actually quite capable when it comes to…" Penny paused, adopting a confused expression as she tilted her head to the side studying the two of them "Are you aware of the fact that both of you have food in your hair?"

Both Roxas and Ruby let out a laugh.

Penny's eyebrows furrowed "What? Did I say something funny?"

"No,no. It's not you." Ruby said wheezing.

Roxas composed himself sooner than Ruby was able to "We just came from dinner actually." He explained "We have food in our hair because we got in a uh… food fight." he admitted sheepishly.

Penny raised an eyebrow "Wait, the two of you just came from dinner?"

Ruby nodded.

Penny's head lifted upward, her eyes examining the stars above them "A fun dinner followed by a walk together under the stars…" she murmured under her breath before her eyes snapped open with realization "Oh!" she smiled in excitement "I know what this is! I've read about it in books!"

"Huh?" was Roxas's only response as Ruby's cheeks began to redden.

A frown suddenly befell Penny's face as she said "Oh! And that means that I'm ruining it by interrupting!" a grin split her face as she shot Ruby a wink that Roxas caught, but didn't understand "I believe this is the part where I say 'I wish I could stop and chat but I have places to be'!"

Ruby gave the girl a sheepish grin "Thanks."

Penny smiled back before turning heel and walking away. The two began to turn around when Penny suddenly called out one final time "Hey Ruby!"

The girl turned back towards Penny who was down the street at this point. Penny lifted two thumbs up and shouted "I approve!"

Ruby blushed a bright shade of red before grabbing hold of Roxas's hand and running down the street with him struggling to keep up behind.

After several minutes the two came to a stop, a minute after that, their idle conversation picked back up.

Soon after that, Ruby brought her hand to her face "You know..." she said rubbing her hand against her cheek "I sorta wish we'd stopped by the restrooms on the way out… my face is all sticky."

Roxas reached up and felt at his face, it was sticky as well.

"Hmm…" The blonde's head moved on a pivot as he looked around before his eyes finally fell on what he was looking for. Grabbing Ruby's hand, he started to run towards the sound of running water.

"This way!" He shouted as they ran towards what looked like a bridge running over a long divot.

Ruby's eyes narrowed in the direction they were running before flashing open in realization and the girl smile.

"Here! Let me!" Ruby shouted as she dashed forward still gripping the boy's hand tightly and before Roxas knew what was happening he felt his feet lift off from the ground as the two made a white and red swirling bolt shooting like a bullet down the road. In what felt like a matter of moments Roxas found himself at the divot where a grassy slope awaited the two. Ruby decided at this moment to ease them out of their bolt of speed, but due to his bewilderment Roxas tripped at just the wrong moment causing their bodies to tangle and the two were sent rolling down the hill, laughing the whole way down.

Finally they came to a stop at the base of the divot where a steady stream of clear water was rushing past them just a few feet away.

Ruby pushed herself off of Roxas's chest still snorting as she attempted to contain her laughter. Roxas was grinning too as Ruby pushed herself onto hands and knees, her hair falling so that it brushed against Roxas's cheeks.

They stayed like that for awhile, they're smiles slowly fading until they were just staring into each other's eyes, blue eyes staring into silver. Roxas became suddenly aware of the fact that their legs were touching, thighs to knees. He could feel the heat of Ruby's breath on his lips, and was distinctly aware of the fact their faces were mere inches away from each other. He could hear his heart pounding in his chest, something he'd only ever felt on the battlefield before, but he could tell that this time around things were… different, but he couldn't tell why.

He realized that, despite the fact they they'd been sitting there for what felt like ages, he didn't want her to move away, in fact…

Almost on cue Ruby's face very slowly began to lower closer to his, her eyes beginning to close as her lips began to part.

Something that felt like instinct was telling him to draw his face closer to hers, to mirror what she was doing with her lips.

So he did.

* * *

 **-Beacon Academy, Auditorium-**

Weiss was chewing on the inside of her cheek as she looked down at the two table cloths in each hand. One was 'dove' and the other was 'fossil' and she couldn't decide which would better suit the party. Just as she was beginning to lean towards 'dove' she saw out of the corner of her eye Yang walking past with a particularly large speaker resting on her shoulder.

Weiss smiled with an idea as she suddenly spun around and presented the two colors to the girl "I need you to pick a tablecloth."

Yang paused as she looked at the first, and then the other.

Then she snorted "They look exactly the same to me Weiss." before continuing past.

Weiss sighed, her hands dropping to her sides as she muttered "I don't even know why I asked."

"Um, if it's any help, I think the one in your left hand looks better." Said a masculine voice.

Weiss turned around bearing a frown at the sight of Jaune standing five feet away.

The boy bore a sheepish grin as she said "Hey Weiss… how goes the dance planning? Things are looking good so far I think." he said as he examined the decorations that had already been put up.

Weiss looked over the boy's shoulder, then behind her and sighed crossing her arms in the process "So what's the trick this time Jaune? Gonna have the school's orchestra burst in any second to sing me a ballad of why I should let you take me to the dance? Or maybe you're planning to wheel in a big cake that reads 'Dear Weiss, please let me take you to the dance?'"

Jaune smiled, shaking his head "Nope."

Weiss raised an eyebrow "What do you mean, 'nope'?"

Jaune let out an easy laugh "A close friend of mine told me that I should stop with all the tricks, I should stop with all the gimmicks to try to get your attention." He paused, shrugging "They told me that, I should just be honest. Tell you how I really feel…" he smiled "I can't get it wrong if it's the truth."

Weiss's scrutinizing gaze had fallen away at this point. She remained silent as she stared at the boy with wide eyes.

"Weiss." He began "You are… such a beautiful, intelligent, strong, ellagant, and overall incredible girl." he paused as he saw Weiss blush "It's not an understatement when I say that I honestly don't think there's a single girl alive that can hold a candle to you. You're more than I deserve. More than any guy deserves… which is why I'm not asking for you to be my girlfriend, or even for a date." He slowly raised a hand offering it to her "I'm only asking for the most incredible, most astonishing, most jaw dropping girl in the entire school to go to the dance with me."

Weiss covered her mouth, her eyes sad before revealing a smile.

"I-..." she began. Jaune's eyes widening with excitement "I wish I could Jaune. I honestly do." Weiss admitted looked at Jaune with remorse in her eyes.

His arm slowly lowered, his eyes beginning to glimmer "I… understand…" he said quietly as he looked down "I'm the screw up of team Purgur. I get it."

"No no! It's not that honest!" Weiss said waving her hands.

Jaune looked up meeting her eye "Then what is it?" Weiss could tell that he was holding back tears.

"I...In most cases, I think I would have normally said yes to that proposal. Given how heartfelt, and honest it was." She began giving him a smile "But…" Jaune's shoulders slumped at the word "But it's just that there's… someone else… I want to go to the dance with."

* * *

 **-Vale's Residential District, River-**

He closed his eyes, and before he knew what had happened, he felt the heat from Ruby's breath gone, and the touch of her knee against his thigh absent. The teen opened his eyes to see Ruby had suddenly disappeared. Blinking, he lifted his head and saw Ruby several feet away, her face a tomato shade of red as she was turning away, holding her cheeks with two hands and breathing heavily.

Roxas sat up, confused as to what had just happened, confused as to just what _hadn't_ happened.

"Are you… okay?" He asked as he crawled closer.

Ruby schooted away as she stammered "I-I'm f-fine! Just Um! I-Uh!" her head whipped back towards the stream "I just thought we should wash our faces is all!" she managed to get out before crawling towards the waters and dunking her head in.

Roxas crawled beside the girl with a confused expression before turning his attention back towards the water. He cupped the liquid in his two hands before splashing it onto his face. It was cold, but it felt good against the warm night air. What more, it cooled him down.

 _I hadn't even noticed I had been getting hot…_

He thought to himself as the girl beside him suddenly emerged from the water with a deep gasp of air.

She was smiling again as she looked at Roxas "I don't think I should have stuck my whole head in."

Roxas smiled back "Yeah, probably shouldn't have."

The two suddenly fell into an awkward silence turning away from each other, choosing to study the water, rather than each other.

"You know…" Ruby suddenly began as she cupped her hands beneath the water "We never came determined a victor for our food fight earlier…"

Roxas's eyes widened as he realized too late what was about to happen. Before he knew it, a splash of cold water had struck his face prompting a 'Gah!' as he shut his eyes tightly. He heard the girl beside him squeal and opened his eyes to see Ruby attempting to rise to her feet to run away.

"Oh no you don't!" he called out as his hand shot out and grabbed her by the ankle while the other scooped up a cup of water.

"No No No!" She squealed just as droplets of water split the air and collided with her body.

The girl released an 'ack!' as she fell back, sticking her hand back in the water preparing to retaliate.

.

.

.

Five minutes later Ruby was deemed the 'food fight winner' as Roxas found his hair completely soaked, his typical golden spikes flattened down to his scalp.

The two sat side by side facing the water; Ruby with a victorious grin on her face and Roxas doing his best to ring out his hair. A minute went by consumed by no noise but their breathes as they did their best to regulate themselves after such an intense water fight.

After their breathing returned to normal, Roxas began to take off his shoes,and then his socks.

Ruby gave him a strange look "What are you doing?"

Roxas smiled "Well I'm already wet right?" as he began to roll up his pants to just below his knees. He moved forward before dipping his legs into the water. It felt pleasant in the now warm night air.

Ruby watched Roxas as he did this before smiling and starting to undo her boots. Roxas looked over his shoulder and watched as she did this. Soon they were off and Ruby rose to her feet, her hands moving up her tights before her eyes turned towards Roxas and her face blushed.

"Turn away!" She ordered.

Roxas obliged as he too blushed. He listened at the sound of Ruby removing her tights before the girl was sitting at his side, her pale legs dipping into the water as she sat.

The two sat contently as their legs drifted in the water, lightly kicking as they did.

"Ruby." Roxas asked, his mind returning to the text he got that started this whole evening "What did you want to talk to me about?"

He watched her face as her smile faded, and a deep blush covered her cheeks as she looked away.

"You don't have to tell me." Roxas shrugged away the question.

"No no!" Ruby startled turning back to the boy "I want to tell you I do! It's just… hard to I guess."

"Why?" Roxas asked bluntly.

Ruby smiled "I love how innocent you are sometimes."

Roxas scratched his head in response, looking at her strangely.

She sighed "It's actually something that Jaune told me… that started to make a lot of sense when I thought about it."

Roxas tilted his head "What'd he say."

"He said…" She began before gulping "That the breach made him realize… that had something happened to him… he might not have gotten the chance to tell… a girl… that he um, well." Ruby gulped again, nervousness clearly present as she continued "That he had feelings for her."

"Huh," Roxas responded chewing on his lip "And that gave you an idea?"

Ruby shot him a raised eyebrow "Yes. It um. It made me realize that _I_ should… probably do the same."

Roxas's eyes narrowed as he tried to understand. He didn't.

Ruby laughed as she continued "Roxas, since I've known you, you've been through near death experience after near death experience, sometimes weekly."

Roxas's eyes trailed upward as he thought it over.

 _First there was Xigbar… Then Demyx and Axel, then the castle… then there was Sora… then there was the breach…_

Roxas nodded and shrugged "You have a point."

Ruby let out a laugh before rubbing her cheeks "Ow, my cheeks hurt from smiling."

Roxas raised a hand to his face, rubbing his cheek bones as he realized "Mine too."

They fell into a silence again, a minute passed before Roxas's eyes slowly grew into saucers.

"WAIT!" He suddenly shouted, making Ruby jump as his mind finally put it all together. "ARE YOU SAYING, YOU,THAT YOU, HAVE FEELINGS FOR-"

Ruby's hand was on his lips in a moment as she scolded "Can you please not shout it? I'm pretty sure there are people sleeping!" he face was bright red.

"Oh…" Roxas whispered "Sorry." he didn't know exactly what it meant to have feelings for another, but he'd gathered enough to know that it was a big deal.

Ruby immediately turned away, her face completely scarlet as her eyes trained on the water.

"So…" Roxas began again, this time at a whisper "You… you have 'feelings' for me?"

"I…do." Ruby slowly nodded, still not meeting his eyes.

Roxas paused, looking out towards the water before looking back "What does that mean exactly?"

There was a loud splash as Ruby's shape immediately tipped into the water.

.

.

.

Ruby was laying sprawled out on the grass with Roxas just beside her equally soaking wet having just dragged the young girl out of the shallow river.

Her eyes were focused on the stars above, her expression unreadable.

Roxas looked over at her occasionally before returning his gaze back towards the stars above. In his mind he was going over again and again what he'd learned from his research as well as what their discussion at the diner had entailed.

 _To have feelings for someone… what does that mean exactly? From what she told me and what I've gathered it means that the person wants to date you… wants to spend time with you, and doesn't want you to date other people… usually._

And so, the boy's mind went to work trying to properly understand the question, and if he wanted that.

 _I like to spend time with her. Tonight was fun… would this be considered a date? I'd like to do more of that I think. I laughed a lot._

He checked that off the box.

Before he could get any further in his thought process he heard Ruby say "You know… this was a mistake." before suddenly sitting up.

Roxas found the only thing he was able to utter as he stared dumbly at the girl was a "Huh?"

"It's… it's not fair for me to expect you to understand my feelings for you…" Roxas felt thumping in his chest as Ruby rose to her feet, eyes sad, and her gaze low "You've told me about your life… about how you're still learning… and how some things are just…" she sighed "You're not ready for some things. I realize that now. This was a stupid idea."

"I… I…?" Roxas found his words stuck in his throat as he felt panic rising in his chest. He didn't know what to say. His mind was racing, _screaming_ at him to do something, but he didn't know what he should _do._

She forced a smile as she looked down at him, her eyes still revealing her hidden sadness "It's okay Roxas. You don't have to understand now."

"I'm… sorry…?" The boy finally managed to say. He wasn't sure if they were the right words to say, but he knew he had to say something. He felt his cheeks warming, and his mind swirling with an emotion he couldn't identify.

Ruby continued to smile down at him, but it wasn't the same smile that managed to force a smile on Roxas's face every time he saw it. It wasn't the smile that made his chest well up, and his mood to immediately improve.

This smile made him sad, and filled his heart with despair.

"C'mon, let's head back. It's getting late." Ruby slowly turned her back to the boy, her feet pushing through the grass as she began to make her way towards where their belongings had been discarded.

Roxas felt something in his chest drop. His mind was spinning so fast he almost felt like he was going to be sick or pass out or maybe both. He couldn't take his eyes off the girl in front of him, slowly walking away, each step felt like a dagger through his chest, but he still couldn't tell _why_.

It didn't make sense to him, none of the thoughts in his mind were making sense to him. His body was tense and shaking as if he were in a fight, but there were no enemies. His hands are clammy and warm, but he was completely drenched in cool water. His friends were fine, everyone was healthy, Ruby was okay, and yet he almost felt like he needed to _cry_.

"Screw it…" He uttered under his breath as he pushed himself to his feet.

 _If none of my thoughts are going to make any sense, then I'm going to do something that doesn't make sense._

Before he knew what he was doing, his feet were carrying him with urgency chasing after the Ruby. She had yet to notice his approach as he closed the distance between them.

At first he thought it was instinct carrying him towards Ruby, as the sensation driving his feet felt…. _similar_ in nature, but different in its motivations. He relied on his instinct in a fight when there was no time to think, only to react, instinct made his head move to the left just as a claw would otherwise pierce it or made him dive out of the way of an Ursa's stomp that would otherwise crush him.

This was neither of those things.

His thoughts were certainly not driving him as right now his head was a jumbled mess of emotions.

Instead he felt his arms and legs responding to a pounding in his chest, a warmth that felt right to listen to. A slow smile pulled at his lips as he finally started to understand.

 _My Heart._

He suddenly realized as he reached out and placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder. The girl stopped and slowly turned around, her eyebrows furrowed as she saw Roxas's wild smile.

"Roxas? What are you doing?"

"I haven't the slightest clue!" He admitted with a bright smile "I just know that it feels right to do. So I'm not fighting it anymore. I'm not trying to make sense of it anymore. I'm just going with it, I'm listening, and I'm finally…" Roxas felt his smile widen into a toothy grin "I'm finally following my Heart." before he leaned in, bringing his face only inches away from Ruby's face before…

Their lips met, and they kissed.

Roxas felt Ruby's shoulders tense before they slowly eased, and suddenly, the boy felt the girl's slender fingers running through his wet hair pulling him deeper into the kiss. He felt his hands wanting to reach up to do the same with hers.

He didn't fight it.

Her lips were soft and slippery from the water as his eyes closed, his senses numbing themselves so that the only thing he could feel were her lips pressed against his, her fingers in his hair as his fingers ran through her own.

The world around him seemed to fall away, the sound of rushing water only a few feet away seemed so distant as it's wet splashes seemed miles away. The wind which had been previously drying his clothes mere moments ago had seemingly stopped in its entirety so as to not interrupt this single moment.

Roxas felt like an eternity had passed when they finally pulled away from each other.

He had to admit, he wouldn't have minded spending another eternity enveloped by those lips.

When he pulled away, taking a deep breath of air, he realized that the swirling mass of uncertainty and fear in his mind was gone.

His head was clear.

And his heart felt like it was shooting fireworks.

Roxas's eyes met with Ruby's, they were no longer sad, they were happy, excited, bewildered, a spectrum of emotions that Roxas found himself sharing. They were both smiling, staring back at each other.

Then Roxas felt a sharp pain in his side which flung him sideways straight into the teen clambered to his feet, his legs submerged in water up to his knee as he clutched his side in a tight grimace. He could already feel some of his wounds reopening.

"Awwwww," Said a masculine voice "Such a touching display, young love is such a wonderful thing, isn't it?"

Roxas's gaze shifted up towards the top of the divot. Standing there were two very familiar figures.

Neo's head nodded in response to Roman's question as she bore her typical confident grin. Her umbrella was swinging around her wrist as the two descended down the grassy hill.

"It's such a pity that we're being forced to do this _now_ of all times. Interrupting such a delicate moment." Roman said in a condescending manner full of false pity.

Neo responded with an exaggerated frown and nodded, looking towards Roxas with mock sympathy.

In an instant Ruby's Crescent Rose was out, pointing towards the two figures as she glared daggers.

"What are you two doing here?" She spat.

Roman grinned a malicious grin "WellI Little Red if you must know. A little birdy told me that your friend here ran quite the marathon the other day, like a powerful horse he ran himself silly." Roman pointed to where Roxas was still grimacing in pain, his hand clutching his side where blood had begun to stain his clothes "But unfortunately it looks like the poor boy has injured himself, so we thought it would be best if we put the old boy _down_."

"Over my dead body." Ruby spat with a viciousness to her tone that Roxas had never heard her use before.

Roman's jovial expression darkened "Oh, trust me when I say..." he began as his grip on his cane suddenly tightened "That can can be arranged."

Roxas's eyes widened as the man in the bowler hat swung his cane towards Ruby's head.

But Ruby was ready.

With a flick of her wrist the Crescent Rose spun in a flash of red that knocked the man's cane away from her face. With the second spin of the scythe she aimed its blade straight towards Roman's chest just before the petite form of Neo stepped in front of the strike, stopping it in its tracks with her umbrella. A heeled foot shot out from the girl driving straight for Ruby's nose but at the last second the girl in red ducked the blow, spinning the Crescent Rose behind her as she did so before swiping out towards their legs.

Roman startled as he was taken to the ground but Neo managed to leap over the strike just at the nick of time before planting a boot into Ruby's face. With a surprising amount of force Ruby was sent tumbling back as Neo did an elegant back flip. A confident grin remained on Neo's face before the sound of a sniper shot pierced the air. Neo's eyes widened in shock as she was stuck in the chest before tumbling to the ground in a heap.

Ruby rubbed her cheek before rising to her still bare feet. Her expression was serious and her Crescent Rose was gripped tightly in her hands.

Roxas scowled at his weakness as he lowered his hand away from his still bleeding wound and began to trudge through the water eventually finding himself standing beside Ruby. Meanwhile, both Roman and Neo slowly rose to their feet, the latter rubbed her chest with an annoyed expression.

In a flash of light, Roxas felt his Oblivion and Oathkeeper in his hands once more.

"Oh ho ho! It looks like this little horse still has a little bit of run left in him doesn't he?" Roman sniped.

Roxas scowled, but it was Ruby's voice that echoed out as she said "I can handle you both myself. I've trained and I've practiced against opponents twice as strong as either of you." She scowled "I'm not the same little girl you found at the Dust shop all that time ago." She looked in Roxas's direction, her gaze pausing for a moment on his still bleeding side before meeting his eye "Don't push yourself Roxas. You've still got a lot of healing to do. I can handle this."

"I'm fine." he lied. It was all he could do not to drop one of his weapons and clutch at his now reopened wound.

"Oh Little Red Little Red," Roman said as he pushed his face into his palm "Poor, naive, _stupid_ ,Little Red." he dropped his hand, his expression dark as he finished "It doesn't matter if you think you can take on the two of us. Do you really think we would come without _backup_ to take down little boy wonder?"

A single musical note split the air, and Roxas's eyes widened in terror as it did.

The boy turned and just barely managed to push Ruby out of the way before a massive geyser of water shot out from beneath his feet, striking him with a force that left his entire body screaming in oceans of pain as he was launched straight up.

"Roxas!" Ruby called out in panic as the boy began to fall back to the Earth below. Ruby's form was completely enveloped in red before she shot like a bullet towards Roxas's form, intercepting him ten feet from the ground sending them into a tumbled before they hit the ground rolling.

Roxas cried out in pain, gasping as he tried to process three more wounds that had managed to reopen along his back.

The boy's adrenaline had begun to flood his system, forcing him to his feet as his instincts were screaming at him that the fight wasn't over yet. When he finally managed to reach his feet, Ruby was already at his side.

Her back was towards him as she stared down what were now _three_ figures slowly approaching them.

One was Roman, twirling his cane as if he didn't have a care in the world.

One was Neo, who was walking with her umbrella casually pulled behind her back.

And the last was a tall figure wearing the black Organization coat, his hood was up as his fingers continued to play at the strings of a blue Sitar.

"Demyx…" Roxas murmured under his breath, his eyes wide with fear.

"Who?" Ruby asked in a whisper, not allowing her gaze to wander even for a moment.

"We need to get out of here." Roxas whispered urgently as he raised a hand instinctively before hesitating.

He stared at a point on the ground where he would normally call for a Dark Corridor to appear with little to no effort required on his part. He'd tried over the past days to summon a Corridor of Darkness, but it only ever resulted in a splitting, debilitating headache and nothing more. The same went for any of his magic, or light for that matter.

They were only about ten feet away when Roxas made up his mind.

 _We need to get out of here._

He focused as he selected a point at Beacon to link to the ground he was staring at.

Then his entire world went white with pain, he dimly heard Ruby call out his name in concern as his legs buckled beneath him. His head felt like a thousand needles were jabbing into his brain at once as he laid on the ground, dizzy and nauseous beside Ruby's legs. His arms and legs felt like rubber as he slowly did his best to turn towards where he'd begun to hear battle noises.

Ruby had shot forward, meeting the trio half way as her small voice roared. Her semblance was in full affect as a red blur danced around the trio, diving and leaping as she avoided strikes and did her best to counter attack when she could. She managed to knock Roman to the ground again with a swipe of her Scythe before stopping a kick meant for her chest with the bar of her weapon. Ruby pulled back her Crescent Rose for a swing before a pillar of water struck her in the side sending her flying straight into a kick that connected with the girl's jaw.

Roxas's eyes filled with worry as he watched Ruby immediately fire a bullet at Demyx which found itself stuck by a wave of water floating just in front of the man. She dodged to the side as Roman fired an explosive round from his cane, avoiding its blast radius as her slender, blurring form spun in the air, building momentum before swinging her Scythe at Neo's head.

In response Neo back flipped away as another jet of water struck Ruby in the chest sending her to the ground.

 _ **No!**_

Roxas's mind screamed as he ignored the roars of protest in his arms and legs, pushing himself to his feet before summoning his Oblivion and OathKeeper to his hands once more. The movement attracted the attention of Demyx as he turned his head in Roxas's direction.

The man rolled his eyes before strumming a single note on his instrument. In immediate response Roxas found himself completely surrounded by humanoid shapes entirely made of water.

"Sit tight." Demyx's voice called out "We'll deal with you once we're done with your 'girlfriend'."

Roxas roared in anger before ducking below a wild swing and driving his Oblivion through the water golem with such a force that it exploded on impact.

Ruby was back to her feet now and had managed to wrap her blade around Neo's torso before firing a shot that sent the petite woman flying. Unable to defend her back however Ruby grunted in pain as a cane struck her temple.

Roxas drove his two Keyblades each into two more of the water golems, both of their figures exploding in a shower of precipitation before attempting to leap up and over the group. He felt something wet grip his ankle just as he did, pulling him back and slamming his head into the hard packed earth. Roxas saw stars as he slowly began to push himself to his hands and knees.

The boy suddenly felt something wet slash against his back, drawing from his lungs a massive cry of pain as he was forced to the ground once more.

Ruby's attention shifted towards the boy as she dove out of the way of a large geyser of water before being forced to swirl her Scythe, deflecting a swing of Roman's cane.

"Roxas!" She called out as she watched another one of the water golems strike against the boy's back.

Her attention divided, she didn't notice Demyx move in right beside her, swinging his Sitar like a baseball bat right into her stomach.

Ruby grunted as she was launched into the sky before flipping mid air and using a well placed sniper round to propel her back towards the earth below. The girl pulled back her Crimson Rose before swinging just as she touched down. Roman reacted too slowly to pull himself out of the way as the slash made contact with his chest,knocking the wind out of him and sending him hurling back. His body struck the ground with a bounce, and he was still.

"That's one down…" She murmured to herself just as she felt something blunt strike her against the side of her face. Ruby spun once before regaining her footing, her bare feet scraping against the hard ground as she swung a horizontal swipe towards Neo's nimble form. The petite woman easily jumped over the swing, her expression no longer jovial as she drove the tip of her umbrella straight into Ruby's sternum.

Ruby grunted, backpedalling before a blast of water struck the girl in the face, forcing her to the ground.

Roxas finally managed to slip a strike and was back to his feet, swinging his Oblivion and Oathkeeper wildly as they tore through the few remaining liquid golems. He felt like he was moving through molasses as his legs strained to carry him towards Ruby. He watched as the petite form of Neo placed a single foot to the girl's chest, pinning her to the ground as Ruby desperately reached out towards her scythe lying only inches out of reach.

The boy watched in horror as Neo gripped the handle of her umbrella before slowly revealing a thin, grey blade theathed within the umbrella's stem. She raised the blade, angling it downward as she bore an expression of true hate staring straight into Ruby's eyes.

"No!" Roxas shoughted as he struggled to run with his limp. Rearing his arms back, he threw both Keyblades straight towards Neo's exposed back. Before either could get close however, Demyx appeared, deflecting each weapon with his Sitar as the two Blades clattered to the ground uselessly.

"Didn't I say we'd get to you once we were done?" Dymex said angrily.

"Please!" Roxas begged reaching out a hand "You don't want her! You're after me right!?" He was searching deep within his chest, seeking out the white flame that so often aided him in his battles to aid him again.

He couldn't find it.

Then he watched as Neo's blade struck downward.

" **No**!" Roxas screamed, when suddenly everything went white.

Roxas looked down in confusion to see if it was coming from him.

It wasn't.

Suddenly the darkness of the night was completely gone, replaced by a light so bright that Roxas had to shield his eyes just to bare it. Unable to see where he was going, his limp finally got the best of him as he tripped, falling face first into the grass.

When finally the light dissipated, Roxas struggled to open his eyes, blinking rapidly as he tried to make out what he was seeing. Neo was on her back, withering in pain as her two palms pushed themselves into her eye sockets.

Demyx had staggered as well, forced to a knee as he clutched the side of his head "What… what did you… just do?" he said squinting, staring daggers at Roxas.

The boy's mouth was agape, his eyes wide with wonder, what _had_ just happened?

His eyes finally re-adjusting to the darkness, Roxas averted his attention from Demyx back to where Ruby was still lying motionless on the ground. Roxas's eyes squinted before widening as he made out the shape of the grey blade standing upright, imbedded in the girl's torso.

 _ **NO!**_

The boy had found his footing suddenly, his senses completely numb to the pain of his body as he darted forward. Demyx had gotten to his feet at this time, and was beginning to strum his Sitar rapidly as Roxas approached.

Suddenly, a small army of water Golems erupted from the moist ground, surrounding the boy and stopping him in his tracks. Roxas's frantic eyes darted back and forth between the Golems before coming to a conclusion.

He needed his light.

He closed his eyes, searching within himself for the white flame, hoping without reason that it would rear its head at his call.

He was once again met with nothing.

 _C'mon!_ Roxas thought in panic _Ruby will_ _ **die**_ _if I don't get to her in time! I need you!_ _ **Please**_ _!_

Suddenly, Roxas found it, the white flame which had been seemingly _hiding_ from him. It was small, and it was weak, barely a flicker Roxas guessed, but the boy seized it without hesitation.

Waves of pain rippled through his body as the familiar glow of his light surrounded him. Roxas stumbled as he fought against the nausea, his vision going in and out as he struggled to remain conscious. Trembling, his arms raised the Oblivion and Oathkeeper above his head before with a roar of either pain or anger Roxas brought the two weapons down, forcing his body to produce what Namine had aptly named a 'light bomb'.

A massive wave of light exploded from the boy, tearing through the onslaught of water golems before reaching a surprised looking Demyx and striking him in the chest. Neo was the next recipient as she'd slowly begun to rise to her feet, her eyes red as she blinked rapid only to see a new type of light racing towards her. Neo's face read terror as she quickly shielded her eyes before the Light Bomb struck her, taking her off her feet and sending her flying back past Ruby's still motionless form.

When the light faded, nothing remained of Demyx's water Golems as the man lay sprawled out, dazed on the ground. Neo's form was still as she lay crumpled in the fetal position.

Roxas let go of his Oblivion and Oathkeeper, not because he wanted to, but because his fingers no longer had the strength to hold them.

"I… need to… get to… Ruby…" He quietly whispered to himself as he pushed his trembling body to take a step forward, and then another. He almost fell nearly four times in the ten feet he had to travel before collapsing beside Ruby's limp form. Roxas forced himself to his hands and knees as he looked at the Ruby's motionless body. Her eyes were closed, and the blade was imbedded deep into the center of her chest.

"I… need to… get that… out." He murmured to himself teetering between the line of consciousness and collapse as a quivering hand slowly reached out and took hold of the curved handle. He pulled as hard as his current arm permitted with barely a budge to show for it.

"P-please…" He begged to no one in particular as his other hand reached out and gripped the handle. The boy pulled with both hands now, his body screaming at him to stop, but his senses were almost so numb he couldn't hear it.

Finally, with a grunt the blade pulled free, clattering against the ground. Roxas looked down, and saw crimson begin to spread through Ruby's corset.

He laid a hand atop of her chest, coating his hand in the liquid before whispering the familiar spell "Cure."

As if he senses were finally returned to him all at once, a pain like he'd never felt before tore at the inner workings of his mind, like it was trying to tear itself in half trying to comply to his command.

Roxas felt himself tipping as his vision started to go black.

 _ **NO!**_

Something other than his mind cleared his vision as he felt a warmth in his chest.

Roxas took a breath, mentally thanking whatever was allowing him to continue as he placed a second hand over the first. He hadn't noticed it before, but his cheeks were wet, his vision clouded by tears.

"Cura!" His frail voice roared as once again the wave of pain returned twice fold this time as it threatened to force him towards the brink of collapse.

But again, just as he neared that brink, something else pulled him back as the dark spots of his vision cleared and he opened his mouth for what Roxas gathered would be his final attempt.

He planned to make it count.

" **Curaga!** " He roared with all the air in his chest. Roxas forced himself to keep his eyes open as the wave of debilitating _agony_ struck him once more, this time worse than all the others and his arms trembled to stay in place. His voice roared as he felt like he was about to break in two just as he saw it.

The familiar glow of green hovering over Ruby's chest.

Roxas felt his lips forming a slight smile as his arms slumped to his sides. No longer capable of remaining upright, the boy collapsed in a heap beside Ruby. The last thing Roxas heard as his world went black were the sounds of Ruby's coughs as the girl slowly began to push herself to a sitting position.

Roxas smiled as his eyes closed.

* * *

Ruby couldn't stop coughing as she sat up, her face coated with sweat and her eyes wide with shock. Finally her coughing came to its end before she noticed the still form of Roxas lying next to her.

Her eyes filled with panic as she quickly reached over, shaking the boy by his shoulders as she desperately tried to draw a response. When she didn't get one, the girl lower her ear so that it was just inches from Roxas's lips. After a few seconds, she breathed a sigh of relief and pulled back.

"You're breathing." She told the boy despite knowing the fact that he couldn't hear her.

The girl slowly rose to her feet, her legs trembling as she did so.

"I need to call for help…" She murmured before reaching down into a pocket and retrieving a scroll, only to realize the device had been completely waterboarded from all the torrents of water she'd been struck by.

She sighed before going to return the scroll to her pocket when she finally noticed the giant red stain running down her corset.

Ruby blinked twice, staring down at the stain before patting her chest checking for a responsible wound.

She found nothing.

"What… happened?" She asked as her eyes wandered across the battlefield. She first saw Roman's still form laying sprawled out on the grass where she'd left him. Then, she saw the shape of the man Roxas had called 'Demyx' lying face down in the dirt. Looking over her shoulder, she saw the curled up form of Neo , her knees to her chest in the fetal position.

Out of the corner of her eye she caught movement, prompting the girl to turn her head towards the slowly rising form of Demyx.

Ruby's expression turned serious as she quickly reached down and picked up her Crescent Rose lying only a foot away.

Demyx was using both hands to crack his back as he rose, groaning as he did "Man! That sure wasn't fun...oh!" he said in surprise when he saw the form of Ruby defiantly pointing her scythe his direction "I thought you were… Didn't Neo…?" He shrugged "I guess it doesn't matter anyway. Not like you're much of a threat now that number XIII is out like a light."

Ruby growled "What makes you so sure? I was handling myself fine when it was all three of you. Now that you're by yourself, you don't stand a chance!"

Demyx blinked twice before bursting out in laughter "Oh I can't believe you actually think that ah..." he wiped a nonexistent tear from his eye "Those two-" he pointed a finger with each hand "Were in the _**way**_."

Ruby tilted her head "W-what?" the nervousness beginning to creep into her voice.

"Look," He began awkwardly scratching the back of his head "I'm not the most, _professional_ , member of the Organization. Which means that I'm not all that well trained to be frank."

Ruby's eyebrows furrowed.

"What that means is that I'm not all that focused on the battlefield, so I don't tend to pay attention that well when it comes to a fight. Which means that if I hadn't been fighting so delicately and pulling my punches in our last round, it's more than likely I would have knocked one of them out in the crossfire."

"I… I don't believe you!" Ruby shouted her scowl returning as she glared towards the man.

Demyx shrugged again as he reached down and picked up his instrument, brushing away the dirt as he did so "Doesn't matter to me one way or another if you believe me. Doesn't make it any less true." His fingers suddenly ran through all of the strings as a small army of water golems immediately burst from the ground.

He grinned as a worried expression washed over Ruby's face "All that matters to me is that by the end of tonight, number XIII finally gets the proper treatment for a _**traitor**_."

Ruby grimaced as she drew back her scythe, her legs like springs before-

Something… _strange_ happened.

There was a flash of something…. Metallic, like a small blade, or a series of them attached to… something so thin that the only way Ruby caught even a hint of its presence due to the glint of the moonlight reflecting off of it.

Suddenly, there was a massive _BOOM_ as Roxas was immediately sprayed with water, forcing the girl to close her eyes. When she opened them again, the small fleet of water golems that had been previously surrounding her, were gone.

"Oh not this again!" Demyx complained "I swear! What is it _this_ time!?"

Ruby caught out of the corner of her eye a flash of orange as a figure stepped forward.

Her jaw dropped "W-what are you!? No! Get back! It's dangerous!"

"Oh don't worry Ruby!" Said a upbeat voice with a bright smile.

"I am combat ready!"

* * *

 _ **AN:**_

 _Welp! I'm sure that many of you are going to have things to say in the review corner in regards to the plethora of events that occured this chapter. I'm sure many are going to be upset and many are going to be rejoicing lol. In my defense….(runs out of the room)._

 _All jokes aside, this chapter was a monster to complete and I can't give more thanks to reviewer and beta reader_ _ **kittygb93**_ _who made me realize probably hundreds of times over how poor my grammar can be. Finally it all makes sense what you all always complain about XD. If you appreciated not being taken out of the story due to my terrible grammar, you have her to thanks! This will probably be the cleanest chapter I put out for this story (unless she agrees to do another one but considering how much effort she did I wouldn't count on it lol)_

 _Anyway, I'm just a tad drained after writing this chapter understandably so so it may be a moment until I release another chapter. Of course I think I said that about the previous chapter so who knows at this point lol._

 _Over all I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and here's a word from the awesome! The competent! The Grammar Nazi! Kiiiiiiittttygb93! Take it away!_

 _Lol, thank you RoxaShadow. Hello my fellow reading comrades. It is an honor as well as a pleasure to be speaking with you all through this A/N. Just know that I am a really nice person, so disregard the Grammar Nazi title our great author bestowed upon me XD I will say that I am nervous since this is my first time doing something like this, so I'll get straight to the point. It was really fun having to proofread and correct certain areas that probably would've been distracting for some readers, but just know that like everyone else, I'm not perfect. This chapter may be clean, but it's beyond perfect, so I'm sure some of you will still spot a spelling or grammar mistake here or there. However, I hope that the fixes and changes I had approved from RoxaShadow will meet some of your expectations. Anyway, it really was enjoyable and I hope that in the future I'll be able to provide my services to our author. What matters to me is making sure that RoxaShadow gets the help and support needed to improve this amazing story as well as make it more enjoyable and smooth for the readers. I hope that for those who have been with RoxaShadow way before me will continue to give the support, encouragement, and inspiration he deserves while those who just started to join this story will stick around just a while longer and see this through to the end. That is, if you want to. Totally up to you based on your taste XD But I digress. Well...that's all I have to say. Hope I'll have a chance to talk like this again. See you guys later in the next chapter ;D_

 _ **The following was me, your dutiful author, doing his best to distract Kitty as she was writing her AN to you all. Enjoy.**_

 _Potatoes. Greek yogurt, pizza without cheese, cinabun spelled wrong. Its fun watching you pause. A large carrot shaped like a cup of lard. Roxas riding a goat that's shouting "Got it memorized?"I am absolutely. Steven universe but instead of gems they're stray cats. That's the . power rangers where they have to fight for a homeless man's sandwich. A power bar where its made out of styraphome. Thats a hard word. But its funny and you know youre laughing hah. When its so metal that all the magnets in the world attract to it. "RAAAAAAAAHHH" when you stop paying attention to your an cuz Roxashadow is distracting. I think I'm gonna leave this in. I've run out of weird ideas off the top of my head. I'm just typing in hopes that it will cause pause for Kitty up there._

 _ **Now! I expect all of you who made it this far to (Along with your awesome reviews!) leave a kind comment for Kitty in hopes that we might blackmail her into doing this again in the next chapter so that we might finally get some consistency for this story! Thanks ahead of time!**_

 _ **Until Next time!**_


	32. Chapter 32:What Is Gained Can Be Lost

Ruby stared wide eyed at the girl beside her. Penny bore a confident grin as she stared down at the man in the black coat. Ruby's eyes slowly pulled away from her friend's face and lingered on a row of scimitar-like blades hovering suspended in the air just behind her head.

"...How is she …?" Before Ruby could question it, Penny pushed her hand forward and in response the series of blades all shot forward in a straight line.

Demyx frowned as they rocketed straight towards his chest "Think again!" he shouted before his fingers strummed down on the Sitar and a wall of water erupted in a line just beneath the blades. The daggers were sent flying harmlessly away.

Before they managed to scatter too far Penny reached out towards the daggers. They halted immediately before turning their edges back in Demyx's direction.

His shoulders slumped "Oh come on! Am I fighting Xaldin or something?!"

Without another word the blades were sent back down towards the man, but this time they parted so that they were several feet from each other.

"Still not gonna work!" Demyx shouted as with another strum of his Sitar, a massive wall of water pumped out of the ground, intercepting the blades which stuck into the water with a splash.

Penny frowned as she saw this, then she grinned. In a matter of moments the blades had retracted from the wall of liquid and were at the girl's side again, surrounding her as they aimed their tips towards the Nobody.

"Penny how are you…?" Ruby asked slack jawed before Penny looked over towards her.

"I'm about to give you an opportunity." She smiled "Make the most of it!"

Before Ruby could ask what she meant the girl thrusted two fists forward, prompting each dagger to produce a thin green beam of energy each surging towards Demyx's mildly stunned expression.

"When will you learn little girl!" Demyx shouted as his fingers raked against his Arpeggio in a violent fashion. Immediately, a massive wall of water erupted, taking the full brunt of Penny's attack as the beams struggled to push against the jets of liquid.

Penny gave Ruby a look, and the girl nodded in response.

She dashed forward, her Crescent Rose trailing behind her clasped tightly in her hand as she did. In an instant Ruby felt herself become a flash of red, circling around the jets of water defending against Penny's attacks before she stopped right next to Demyx's surprised form.

"Hey! That's cheating!" He barely managed to get out just before Ruby's massive scythe made impact with his torso forcing him towards his own roaring jets of water. Just as his feet left the ground, his water suddenly dissipated, allowing Penny's blasts of energy to surge past straight into the man's back.

"Gah!" He choked out as he was sent face down into the ground. The Nobody grumbled as he slowly raised his face from the dirt "I swear I'm tired of always being outnumbered all the time."He rolled over onto his back before seeing Ruby standing just above his head, her Scythe raised overhead.

"I see Atlas I see Vale!" Demyx quipped as he looked up.

A bright flush of red filled Ruby's face as she shouted "Shut up already!" before splitting the air with her weapon.

Just as the tip of the scythe came inches from the man's face Demyx reached up and summoned his Arpeggio to his open hand, clasping it and blocking the girl's strike with a loud CLANG.

Demyx sighed, "Man, fighting is just not my thing." before twirling the instrument in his hand, catching Ruby's legs in the process and knocking her to the ground.

The Nobody sat up scratching the back of his head casually.

"Man...what a pain." He grumbled as Ruby scrambled to her feet and Penny charged forward with her blades trailing behind her as she did.

Just as the two girls prepared to swing, Demyx's hands lazily began to pluck at the strings.

Suddenly an explosion of massive bubbles shot out in all directions, colliding with Ruby and Penny before knocking them away.

Demyx slowly rose to his feet before marching towards where Ruby was still getting back to her feet.

"Need help getting up?" He grinned as his fingers began to play. Immediately, a geyser of water exploded from beneath the girl, connecting with the center of Ruby's back as she was sent flying into the air. Ruby grimaced as she processed the stinging against her spine before firing two successive shots, flipping herself upright before narrowing her sights on Demyx.

Roaring, Ruby fired round after round down at the man who batted them away casually with short jets of water. His back turned, Penny raced forward, her blades trailing behind her as she darted towards the Nobody.

"Not this time!" He shouted as he spun around, swinging his Sitar like a bat at Penny's head. The girl quickly dived below the wild swing, aiming her blades towards the ground before a flash of green propelled her upward.

"What the-" Demyx startled just as Penny's knee connected with the bottom of his chin, launching him into the sky where Ruby's scythe was waiting. Ruby wrapped her scythe around his midsection as she continued to fall towards the ground. With both hands gripped tightly around her Crescent Rose the girl roared before slamming Demyx into the ground with a thunderous BOOM!

"...Ow." Demyx mumbled beneath his breath, his body making an imprint into the ground as he remained sprawled out.

Before he could react, he suddenly found his arms and legs pinned to the ground as Penny's blades drove through the cloth of his sleeves and pants, sinking into the dirt like stakes.

"Hey!" Demyx complained "You're putting holes in my clothing! I only have one of these I'll have you- oop!" he was cut off as he felt the distinct pressure of Ruby's scythe press against his throat.

"Not. Another. Word." Ruby scowled

"What? Didn't appreciate the underpants comment did- Whoa!" He shouted as he felt the curve of the blade dig deeper into his neck.

"Who are you and why did you target Roxas!?" Ruby demanded.

Demyx opened his mouth before closing it again. Then, slowly he began to mouth the words 'Can I talk again?'

Ruby rolled her eyes before easing the pressure off her Crimson Rose.

"Thanks Little Red! I appreciate you not skewering me on sight." He flashed a toothy grin before continuing "Honestly, the only reason I'm after the kiddo is 'cause I was ordered to. Personally, I don't care about the little runt. I'm just trying not to lose my cooler."

Penny shot Ruby a confused look "Do you understand what that means?"

Ruby shook her head before turning back to Demyx "You're a part of the 'Organization' right? That's why you're wearing that coat?"

Demyx's eyebrows raised "So Roxas told you about the Organization, huh? That's a big no no you know."

Ruby scowled "He doesn't want anything to do with the Organization! You people should all just leave him alone!"

Demyx snickered "That makes two of us! I'm done with the Organization much like your little friend bleeding out over there."

Ruby's eyes widened before turning to look at Roxas's still form. His breathing was labored, and his body was shaking.

Ruby's eyes met Penny's, they shared a look before Penny turned heel and ran to Roxas's crumpled form. Kneeling, she pulled out her scroll as she began to dial something.

Ruby snapped turning back to him "If you're not a part of the Organization anymore, then why attack us!? Why are you going after Roxas!?" she roared, the petite girl trying to sound as intimidating as possible.

"Well it turns out that organizations have a thing for me little girl. Shortly after I got stuck here by your boytoy over there, I got picked up by another group interested in some… less than savory practices." He shrugged "Similar territory so I thought I might try out a new job for awhile. Plus, if this world somehow managed to give Roxas over there a Heart like he so actively convey's he does…" the man's jovial demeanor faded, his expression growing serious as he muttered "Maybe... it can do the same for me…"

Ruby's hardened expression suddenly faded away as she studied the man's sad eyes "You… want a Heart… too?"

Demyx starred up into the girls eyes, his lips parting as his breath grew shaky.

Then he grinned.

"Alright! That's enough questions for now! I've caught my breath!"

Ruby's scowl returned as she pushed her weapon against the man's throat "What? Do you think we're just gonna let you go or something!?"

Demyx blinked before letting out a bellowing laugh "I thought you'd know better considering you're teammates with Roxas. Did you really think this could hold me?"

Ruby's eyebrows furrowed just as a massive swirling mass of purple and black enveloped the man.

Ruby's eyes grew wide as the flames dissipated, leaving only Penny's daggers embedded in the dirt pointlessly.

The man stepped out just behind Ruby, rubbing his shoulder as he did so. "You know," His voice was dark, his humor gone "I think I'm done playing with you two. I'm bored now."

Ruby spun on her heel, swinging her scythe towards the man's face. The blade halted just an inch from the side of Demyx's head as his hand shot out, grabbing hold of the bar absentmindedly.

Ruby struggled, gritting her teeth as her feet dug in dirt trying to pull her Crescent Rose away from the man's unrelenting grip.

"You know," Demyx said as his Sitar suddenly appeared in his open hand "I don't know if it counts for anything, but I think you two made a cute couple for the few seconds that it lasted."

"Ruby!" Penny called out in fear as Demyx's Sitar collided with Ruby's torso, knocking her body back with such a force that Ruby hit the ground with a bounce, and then she was still.

Demyx absentmindedly looked down at the scythe in his hand, turning it around in his fingers before shrugging and tossing it over his shoulder.

The Nobody slowly turned, his feet marching towards Penny as she slowly rose to her feet. Standing in front of Roxas's crumpled form.

"Ya know." Demyx began with a frown "You can save me the struggle of knocking you around like I did your friend over there if you just step like… I don't know, two feet to the left maybe."

Penny's expression grew dark as her blades suddenly tore from the dirt and returned to their positions just behind her back.

"I think you should go now." She frowned "Because I've never fought someone when I'm upset." She paused, her voice shaking "And I don't think I want to know what happens."

Demyx snickered as his fingers began to strum at the strings "Whatever you say kid!"

Two massive jets of water tore through the air aiming directly for Penny. However, before either of them could connect, the blades dashed forward in sets of four, spinning rapidly and tearing through the water like helicopter rotors.

"What!?" Demyx startled as the daggers made their way up and back towards him, moving through the torrents like they were drops of water from a leaky faucet.

Wide eyed, Demyx found himself forced to dive out of the way as the two sets of blades shredded the space he'd previously been standing.

"Alright ya little snot, it's time to get serious." Demyx growled as he rolled back to his feet. His hand reached down and began playing again.

Suddenly, a barrage of bubbles the size of basketballs fired like cannons at Penny's stiff form.

"Try this!" He roared as the bubbles reached their target. There was a sudden flash of silver and green before all at once Demyx's barrage of bubbles exploded into a harmless mist.

Demyx found himself gritting his teeth in frustration "I'm getting tired of you kid! Seriously can't you just...what are you doing?" he asked as his head tilted.

Penny's blades had formed a circle, swirling as a faint green glow began to form in its center.

Demyx studied the formation with furrowed brows before his eyes snapped open wide with realization "Uh oh."

With a thrust of her hands, a massive translucent beam of energy shot forward. Reacting on instinct Demyx's fingers struck the loudest note and a wall of water thicker than a car erupted from the ground in front of him.

The beam struck the geiser, struggling to force its way through as bits of water exploded from the impact.

Demyx felt a grin crawl up his lips "See kid? I told ya it was useless! Seriously! Don't you have any new tricks?"

Penny's expression was blank as she pulled back her arms once more before punching forward a second time.

There was a thunderous BOOM as the beam of energy doubled in size before completely tearing through Demyx's barrier.

"Ah sh-" Demyx started before he was struck dead on by the beam. The massive explosions of green sent Demyx barreling backwards for over thirty yards before he came to a rolling stop, smoke tendrils slowly rising from his body. Demyx's body was still for several seconds before he slowly rolled himself onto his back.

"...What… just happened?" The Nobody croaked out as he stared blankly at the stars above.

Then a noise that he didn't recognize began to fill his ears.

Sirens.

Demyx groaned as he slowly got to his feet, noting that his legs felt shaky as he did so. He shot Penny an intense glare as he opened his mouth to speak "Alright little girl. I was trying to be nice before, but now I-"

His sentence was suddenly interrupted as a 'meow meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow," Ringtone erupted from his pocket.

The man sighed before raising an index finger facing Penny and lifting the scroll to his ear "Yeah what? I'm working."

"Authorities are on their way. Get Roman, Neo and yourself out of there now."

The Nobody's shoulders slouched "Awww come on Cin, I've almost got this all wrapped up here, just give like…" He paused counting in his head "Maybe five minutes, ten at the most."

"Police will be there in less than two. Collect Roman and Neo and leave, that is an order!"

Demyx sighed as he said "Fine fine, sheesh you're so testy today. I'll get red head and short stuff, just chill." before closing the scroll and sliding it back into his pocket. The man turned and eyed Penny with a frown.

"Well girly, turns out your pals all get to live! Yaaaaay! Isn't that great!?" He said in a mocking tone.

Penny's frown was intense as she continued to stand unmoving in front of Roxas "Go away before I make you." she said darkly.

Demyx rolled his eyes "Whatever. As long as I get to take my friends along with me… hmm… I wonder if they consider themselves my friends… I'll have to ask." as he spoke, he raised a single gloved hand towards Neo's form and then Roman's, each were consumed by dark black flames before disappearing entirely. Finally he shot Penny one last toothy grin "Welp! It's been a blast playing with ya! Hope there's no hard feelings! Bye!" before a massive burst of black and purple engulfed him, and he was gone.

* * *

-Three days later, Beacon Academy-

"Ironwood certainly loves bringing his work wherever he travels."

Glynda Goodwitch stood adjacent to the headmaster of Beacon, their eyes peering through the window overlooking the school of Beacon in its entirety.

"Well, running an academy and a military makes him a busy man… But yes, those are a bit of an eye sore." As Professor Ozpin spoke his eyes traced over the small fleet of Atlesian air ships occupying their skies. Many had touched down, consuming Beacon's limited landing strips.

A beeping from Ozpin's desk pulled the man's attention away from the window. Examining the message, he turned facing the elevator before saying "Come in."

The doors to the elevator opened and out stepped a man dressed in white. Draped on his shoulders was a pure white overcoat over a gray undercoat. His pants bore a similar white as they tucked into silver boots accented gray.

The two men approached each other wearing smiles as they met halfway within the room.

"It's been too long." Ironwood said. His head was mostly black with bit of gray revealing itself around his sideburns.

He reached out with a gloved white hand to shake Ozpin's, which the headmaster accepted.

"And Glynda!" The man spoke as the professor approached "It's certainly been too long since we've last met!

"Oh James." The woman responded with a monotone voice before turning to address Ozpin "I'll be outside."

Glynda stepped past the General and into the elevator.

"Well, she hasn't changed a bit." Ironwood commented turning his attention back to Ozpin.

Turning his back to the man, Ozpin approached his desk "So, I imagine I can venture a guess as to what brought you all the way down from Atlas. Headmasters don't typically travel with their students for the Vital festival." His hands moved to pour some coffee from a teapot residing on his desk.

"Well, you know how much I love Vale this time of year." Ironwood spoke as he accepted the mug from Ozpin. Reaching into his coat he pulled out a flask of his own before pouring some into the drink. "Besides, with you hosting I figured this might be a good time for you and I to… catch up."

"I can certainly appreciate quality time between friends. However, the small fleet outside my window has me somewhat concerned."As Ozpin spoke he made his way back around his desk, taking a seat as he poured himself a drink.

"Well, concern is what brought them here."

Ozpin's expression darkened "I understand that the Grimm attack has left some of the Kingdoms… nervous. But that doesn't dismiss the fact that we are still in a time of peace-"

Ironwood scowled "How can you even begin to suggest that? I've read the reports Ozpin. I know that this breach wasn't just a handful of Grimm slipping their way through Vale's defenses. This was an organized assault, intended to take advantage of how poorly prepared Vale was for such an attack and so it did."

"We handled it." Ozpin started.

"Don't lie to me Ozpin!" Ironwood snapped "I already told you. I've read the reports, and I know what happened. Multiple fissures in the ground scattered throughout the city provided ample entry points for Grimm to flood Vale's Commercial District. They abused Vale's old subway out to the failed expansion to get right beneath your feet."

"I've already sent a team to investigate the area and report back what they find."

Ironwood shook his head "They won't find anything."

"We won't know that until they've returned." Ozpin frowned at the man.

Ironwood sighed, his head lowering "I… I just want to help you Ozpin. People died in that attack. And as far as I'm concerned? That is a call for war."

Ozpin shook his head "Not yet. We don't know our enemy yet. We were blindsided by this attack. But now…" He tried to shoot the general a reassuring gaze "We'll be ready."

Ironwood sighed as he said "I'm just being cautious."

"As am I, which is why we will continue to train the best Huntsmen and Huntresses we can."

"Believe me. I am… also...there's been rumors… rumors that I thought best to ask about in person."

Ozpin's eyes narrowed "What have you heard?"

Ironwood's jaw set "A boy. No older than sixteen capable of transporting dozens of civilians miles away in an instant using what was described to me as a 'black flame'."

Ozpin's eyes closed in a grimace as the general continued "The same boy was reported to have been able to summon weapons to his hands with a flash of light, as well as supposedly dispose dozens of Grimm in a single explosion of a bright light. "

The general paused, studying his friend's face "...I thought these rumors to be nothing more than a panicked group of people's delirious ramblings… but by the look on your face I suspect that there is some truth to this matter."

A slow sigh escaped from the headmaster's parted lips "How long ago did you hear about this?"

"A couple days ago. I heard it at one of the Schnee's regular parties. It's been circulating like wildfire that one of Beacon's fourth years managed to hold off an entire army of Grimm single handedly." Ironwood snickered "I figured the rumors had to be false, there's no way that sort of…"

He watched Ozpin's lips pulled into a half-smile "Well, I can confirm that they did get some of it wrong."

Ironwood laughed breathing a sigh of relief as he did "I knew it had to be exaggeration when I heard it. There's no way that a mere student would be responsible for such wild claims-"

"He's a first year." Ozpin spoke quietly.

Ironwood paused, eyeing the man as he waited for him to continue.

"And…?" The general continued, his brows knitted.

Ozpin took a sip from his mug "And?"

Ironwoods mouth fell open "Are you suggesting that the rest of the rumors are true?"

A slow nod.

The general's eyes went round "A mere first year… an entire army… not to mention the other rumors…" his mouth formed a hard line "I want to meet him."

Ozpin shook his head "The two of you have already met once before."

Ironwood shot the man a puzzled look.

"His name is Roxas. You two met following the flash fire set in the Residential District." Ozpin stated calmly.

Ironwood's eyes narrowed, and then widened "He's the student that brought in that 'Demis' fellow months back correct?"

Ozpin nodded "His name is 'Demyx', and he's the same man who reportedly escaped along with the likes of a Roman Torchwick months ago."

Ironwood scowled "I heard word of that on my journey back to Atlas. I'd have done something about it had I known about it sooner."

Ozpin shook his head "Regardless, nothing can be done about it now. Despite my best efforts, it appears his… abilities, have returned."

Ironwood's eyes narrowed "...If I remember correctly, he had capabilities similar to the likes of Roxas's… correct?"

A slow nod.

"I need to meet the boy at once!" Ironwood shouted "I need to have a full assessment of his capabilities to know what we're dealing with here."

Ozpin sighed "That would be difficult to manage given his condition. He's currently unconscious due to injuries."

Ironwood paused, the tension in his jaw easing before he slowly nodded "I understand. I can't imagine what type of injuries would be sustained after battling such a large number of Grimm."

Ozpin shook his head as he took another sip "No actually. He woke up from that relatively quickly."

The general's mouth fell agape again "Then what happened!?"

Sadness clouded Ozpin's features "The young man was attacked while on a date with another student. From what I've been told of the incident, they only just barely escaped with their lives due to the intervention of a transfer student who just happened to be nearby."

Ironwood's jaw clenched "Were the attackers apprehended?"

The headmaster shook his head "It appears that one of the attackers exhibited the same ability to warp away as the boy does. They escaped just before police arrived"

Ironwood's eyes widened with understanding "Demyx?"

Ozpin nodded "I suspect as much."

"There needs to be round the clock guards, surveillance cameras, and-"

Ozpin raised a hand "It's already done. I have guards positioned just outside the infirmary and only his closest friends have been allowed visitation. Authorities have taken the testimonies of all parties involved and are currently investigating all leads available."

Ironwood's shoulders relaxed "That's good. Losing such an exceptional student-"

"Losing any person-" Ozpin interjected "Would be a tragedy."

"Of course." Ironwood corrected "I just…" he sighed "Do we know what prompted the attack? Or why this 'Demyx' individual would be after Roxas?"

Ozpin paused, his eyes looking over his coffee in contemplation "I believe that Demyx has been recruited by the same organization responsible for the Grimm infiltration. He didn't act by his own volition." The headmaster paused to take a sip from his mug "Authorities haven't been able to find probable cause for the attack. With no affiliation with any groups or any connection with the White Fang aside from that one bust. It's unknown why they were attacked. Cops are linking the boy's involvement with Roman's previous arrest as probable cause… but I don't think that is the true reason for the attack..." Ozpin leaned forward, looking Ironwood directly in the eye "I have a hunch that they were intimidated by Roxas. Whoever was responsible for the breach heard of what the boy could do and was threatened by him." Ozpin leaned back with half-smile on his lips "They're scared James, and they're acting recklessly because of it."

A smile crossed the James lips "We could use this to our advantage. If they really are this intimidated by this single boy then-"

Ozpin frowned "I will not be risking one of my student's lives to enact one of your plans James."

Ironwood frowned "He could very well be the key we need to preventing whatever it is that they're planning!"

"He is not a part of this fight James! He is only a child!" Ozpin spoke rising from his seat.

"He was a part of this fight the moment they decided to attack him!"

"He didn't get a say in that matter! He was fighting to survive!"

Ironwood's jaw tightened "Then don't you think that you should let him decide!?"

The room fell silent as the two men stared each other down.

Ozpin slowly lowered himself to his seat "I think it would be best for you to go now."

The general sighed as he turned his back before heading towards the door. He paused before saying "Please send word when he finally awakes. I'd greatly like to meet Roxas again being responsible for such fantastic feats."

The room fell silent as Ozpin failed to answer.

"I won't disclose anything that we don't agree upon before hand Ozpin." He looked over his shoulder, giving the headmaster a half-smile "You should know me better than that. I still respect your word old friend."

Ozpin's lips pulled into a faint smile "Very well. I'll send for you when he awakens… Old friend." he said punctuating the 'old'.

Ironwood released a chuckle as he entered the elevator, and the door shut.

* * *

-Beacon Academy: Library-

"Wait, he WHAT!?" Yang's voice echoed throughout the area.

"SHHHH!" Ruby placed a finger to her lips "Do you want to let the entire school know?" she scolded. The two sat alone at a table, Ruby having pulled up a chair next to her sister so that their conversation would be more discreet.

A bright smile lit Yang's features as she stared down at her little sister "So, how was it?" she whispered "Wet? Sticky? Awkward?..." she paused, making a face "Was it sloppy?"

A bright blush filled Ruby's cheeks "No! None of that! It was…" she paused, collecting her thoughts "It was… well it was short. I think it was only a few seconds… but it felt like an eternity." Her eyes began to glaze over, a small smile began to pull at the corners of her lips as she recollected the memory "The kiss was… soft… and warm. I could feel the warmth of his face so close to mine. I remember being able to feel his heartbeat." She paused, her eyebrows furrowing "Or maybe that was my heart beat? I don't know, I felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest when it happened and I-"

"AAAAAAAWWWW!" Yang said holding her face in both hands "My baby sister is growing up!"

Ruby's face turned pink as her gaze fell.

"Hmmm." Yang's expression turned serious "But Roxas may be problematic…"

Ruby shot her sister a concerned look "Why? What's wrong?"

"Well Ruby." Yang began with a raised finger "Part of the reason I strived to be such a tough big sister is because I wanted to make sure I could beat up any boyfriend who treated my little sister badly-" a bright grin crossed her features "And you managed to pick the one boy that I don't think I can clobber!"

Ruby shoved her sister off the chair prompting a 'Hey!'.

As Yang resituated herself onto the chair she continued, "Speaking of which…" her smile had faded "What happened out there? I mean, I know you told me before but… I just." Her voice began to tremble "It makes me nervous knowing that you could have… well…" she sighed. "It makes me nervous knowing that if Penny hadn't shown up when she did, I probably wouldn't be talking to my baby sister right now." Her eyes were glossy.

Ruby smiled up at her big sister "It's okay Yang," she began as she pulled Yang into a tight embrace "I'm here. And I'm okay. We made it out of there alive." she giggled "You should know that it'll take more than that to get rid of me!"

Yang's mouth curved into a smile as she rested the side of her cheek on the top of Ruby's head, squeezing her sister tightly.

…

"What do you think would have happened if someone hadn't interrupted you two love birds?"

"Yang!"

* * *

-Beacon Academy: Dorms-

"Um, I'm sorry." Namine began, her head was moving back and forth as she continued to track the pacing form of Weiss "Could you maybe, explain it again but maybe a little… slower? Why can't you just… tell him?"

Weiss sighed stomping her foot before turning heel and shooting Namine an annoyed look "I've already explained it so many times now! I can't just outright tell him how I feel because what if he doesn't feel the same way about me?"

Namine, who was neatly sitting at the edge of her bed, slowly formed the question "But… how will you know if you don't ask?"

Weiss rolled her eyes "Well usually it's the boy's job to ask the girl."

Namine tilted her head "But why? Wouldn't that just make it needlessly more complicated on the boy's end?… I mean." she paused, biting her lip "What's the difference?"

"The difference!" Weiss began "Is that boys are often times completely clueless on matters of the heart. Most are denser than diamonds, and Roxas especially is far denser than even that."

"So…" Namine began with furrowed brows "Wouldn't it make more sense if girls were the ones to ask? Since… apparently we're better at understanding these sorts of things?" The expression of Namine's face read lost.

Weiss threw up her hands in defeat "It's impossible to explain to you! You're just as clueless about these matters as Roxas is!" she said turning her back to the girl.

Namine's head lowered with a frown "I'm sorry… this is all new to me. I'm just trying to help..."

Weiss looked over her shoulder, catching sight of her team mate's drooping eyelids.

She sighed as she walked over "It's not your fault." Weiss began, kneeling at the girl's side "I know that these types of things are new to you, and I'm sorry that I snapped at you. You are helping, you really are. It feels good to finally be able to talk to someone about this." She shot the girl a smile.

Namine returned the smile as she lifted her head.

Rising to her feet, Weiss continued "I just wish I had a better answer to all of this. I want to know what I should do, or more so, how I could explain my feelings to him without it being lost on him."

"Haven't you tried before?" Namine questioned.

"Well, yes, in a way," She said with a shrug "I'd drop hints and implications on our walks together and sometimes when we'd sit up on the roof I'd think I'd finally got through to him when suddenly he'd reveal that he still only thinks of me as just a friend."

"And what's wrong with being a 'friend'?" Namine asked with a tilted head.

Weiss smiled down on the girl "Absolutely nothing." before her smile slipped "But I… I want to be more than that…"

Namine's lips parted to ask what that meant exactly but quickly shut, deciding that she would have to do research on the topic in her own time.

"I just wish…" Weiss began turning away, chewing on her bottom lip "I could somehow practice so that I don't completely mess it up when I do tell him…" After several seconds, her eyes grew wide with realization. Slowly, the girl turned to face Namine who was looking up at her with questioning eyes.

"Yeah?" The girl asked.

"You are the answer to my prayers." Weiss said with a wide smile.

"I… what do you mean?" The girl questioned.

"I mean!" Weiss said, sitting on the bed across from the girl "You and Roxas are one and the same! Practically twins! So-" She began forming the grin Namine had learned to mean 'I've found the answer' "It would stand to reason that you two would more or less interpret a confession of feelings the same way!"

Namine paused for a moment, her eyes narrowing in thought before widening "I see where your going with this, so you want to practice on me before you tell Roxas!" The girl bore a bright smile.

"Exactly!" Weiss smiled back "You're a bit more clever than Roxas though, I have to give you that."

Namine blushed.

"Alright, but first a test!" Weiss began, "I need to make sure that this will work, so I need you to try and forget everything that I just told you and pretend that you hearing everything I say following this for the first time!"

Namine shook her head rapidly, her hair going wild before meeting Weiss's gaze with a determined expression and nodding "Ready!"

Weiss smiled "Alright then. How about this…" the girl paused, selecting her next words carefully.

"I just… I just want to say Namine, that, after all this time together, after all this time to get to know you, I really really like you. More than someone else might."

Namine's eyes blinked once before a bright smile washed over her face "I really like you too Weiss! Thanks!"

Almost immediately, the Schnee burst out laughing.

Namine's head tilted in confusion "Did I do something funny?"

Weiss struggled to get a hold of her fit of giggles "No, no, no, that was the test Namine!"

"Oh!" The blonde responded "How'd I do?"

Weiss snickered "You responded exactly how I envision Roxas would respond to what I said."

"Oh…" Namine paused, thinking it over "That's a good thing right?"

Weiss nodded "Oh absolutely,"

This is going to work out perfectly.

* * *

\- … -

"I'm so glad you're okay Pooh." Roxas felt himself taking a knee just before a small yellow bear in a bright red shirt.

"And I'm glad you came to visit, but you see, I was just about to begin my stoutness exercises. Perhaps we could visit a bit later… Somebody-I-Don't-Know."

"Oh… sure." He found his lips moving on their own as he watched Pooh rise to his feet before beginning a strange variation of squats.

It's happening again. Am I looking through…Sora's eyes?

Leaning forward, Roxas asked "So… how's Piglet these days?"

"I don't think I know anyone by that name," Pooh began with his back turned to Roxas "Now where was I? Oh yes. My stoutness exercises."

"Pooh? Hey, Pooh!"

Roxas pulled back, crossing his arms as he thought aloud "Something very weird is happening here… maybe I should go back and ask Merlin about this."

Who's Merlin?

.

.

.

Suddenly, Roxas found himself in front of a massive, muscular, three headed black dog the size of a two story building. It's eyes were a bright blood red and each of its razor sharp teeth were easily the length of his forearm.

The boy felt nervousness rise up in his chest as he was forced to dive to the side, narrowly avoiding being snapped up in one of the creature's jaws before a second descended on him. Before its teeth could sink into him however, another figure appeared clad in red and wielding a large sword which he imbedded into the teeth of the monster, stopping it from making Roxas its next meal.

"Thanks." Roxas said as he leapt back providing some space between him and the massive mutated dog.

The man jumped back as well just as the third head leaned down to snap at him.

"Be careful." The man grumbled.

Roxas nodded before rushing forward, summoning his Keyblade to his side when Roxas noticed…

It looked… different than the last time he'd seen it.

.

.

.

Suddenly, Roxas found himself flat on his face. He slow began to pick himself up when he heard Goofy's voice just beside him "Hey, look! There's the Cornerstone of Light!"

Roxas pushed himself to his feet when he noticed something.

Is there something wrong with my vision? What happened to all the color?

He walked up to the swirling ball of energy Goofy had just pointed out "What's going on? Everything's black and white." He said finally inspecting his gloves and the rest of his now black and white attire.

"Hey… this is kinda like um… uh…" Donald began, noting his change of attire from his typical battle outfit to a sailor's uniform.

"Déjà vu?" Goofy asked, his face and body looking more scruffy than usual. His outfit had changed to nothing more than a flimsy hat and a button vest.

"Yeah! That's it!" Donald responded pointing.

"Really? Have you been here before?" Sora asked looking back at the two.

No one has answered why everything is in black and white yet. What happened to the color!?

"Hey you! Seen any bad guys around here?"

Before Roxas could turn to see who it was, he found his vision darkening

.

.

.

Suddenly, Roxas found himself aboard what he could only describe as a pirate ship. Night had fallen with the moon prodiving the only light allowing him to see anything at all. The wood of the ship looked old, with several crates and leather bags laying strewn about the deck. Suddenly, he found himself jumping through the air before bringing his Keyblade, which again, was different than the last time, down on the head of what Roxas could only distinguish as a… zombie?

Why am I fighting zombies? Where in the world am I!?

Roxas did his best to study the design of the keyblade he was currently using to carve through zombie after zombie. It was grey in design, thick in the stem with what almost appeared to be a steam engines whistle at the end.

This thing looks weird. Definitely not my style.

Roxas noted as two more zombies leapt onto the deck.

"Enough of this!" Roxas felt his lips shout as suddenly there was a bright flash of red.

Roxas was able to catch a glimpse of his clothes and noted that his shoes, shorts and torso had all turned a vibrant shade of red.

Wait, what is all of this? Why am I…?

Before he could ask anymore questions, he noticed that his other hand was no longer empty, it was carrying a keyblade as well, one that was blue with a curved tip that held a gold star in its center. And then, his arms began moving faster than they'd ever gone before. Roxas felt like a blur as he shot forward before slashing his blades through the zombie more than five times within a fraction of a second. He felt his body crackling with energy and he suddenly zipped around the opponent, taking his back as he continued his onslaught of slashes and attacks. Roxas noticed then that he wasn't using his typical dual wielding stance as he fought. Whenever he would pause for a second to assess who he needed to attack next, one arm would carry a Keyblade over his shoulder while the other he held at his waist. Before he could make a deeper examination of the stance his arms were at work again, plowing through the next unfortunate zombie who dared to jump onto the deck.

This feels incredible.

This was like nothing Roxas had never experienced before. It felt like he was speed and power incarnate as he continued to slash through opponent after opponent.

Then, he started to feel his vision fade…

No. No. No. No! I don't want to leave just yet! I want to watch!

And then he was gone.

* * *

-Beacon Academy: Hallways-

Weiss's footsteps were light as she made her way down the stairs. Her arms had something tightly clutched to her chest. Her feet carried her with purpose as she traversed the otherwise empty hallways. The moon was high in the sky now, the hour was late, but Weiss was hoping it wasn't too late for her to slip in and pay a special someone a visit. Ten minutes passed, and the girl found herself standing in front of the infirmary. Standing before her were two guards clad in white armor protecting their upper torso and head.

"Oh, Ms. Schnee. What brings you here at such a late hour?" The one on the right asked. She had learned his name to be Cerise.

"Hehe, you know why she's here. Come to visit sleeping beauty back there." Joked the man next to him as he pointed a finger behind him. She'd come to know the man as Cyan.

"Hmm… is this true Ms. Schnee?" Cerise asked.

Weiss flashed a sheepish grin "You caught me. I know visiting hours ended an hour ago. But I was really busy with homework and I couldn't make time for the visit." She lied,since the school took on their two week break period no one had been assigned any homework.

"Well it's against protocol if we were to let you in Ms. Schnee."Cerise said very 'matter of factly'.

"Oh c'mon now Cerise have a heart!" Cyan said playfully pushing at Cerise's shoulder. "We've seen the girl come here on the daily and you're trying to break her streak now? We know that she isn't here to do him any harm!"

"Grrr…" Cerise growled at his partner crossing his arms "Don't make me out to be the bad guy! I want to let her go in as much as you do but we were given strict orders not to let anyone past after nightfall! I'm not trying to lose my job!"

Cyan grinned "Oh right, right," before leaning over towards Weiss "If we let ya see your guy, you promise not to tell anyone that we let ya in right?"

Weiss smiled "Of course sirs, my lips are sealed." she said making a zipping motion with her index and thumb.

"See?" Cyan leaned back looking over at his partner "She's not gonna tell anyone, and I'm not gonna say a word, so…" he pointed a finger at the man "The only may Ozzy gets a word of this is if you manage to spill the beans!"

Cerise sighed, his shoulder slumping "Fine,fine. Sheesh you're so pushy." Turning back towards Weiss he said "You can go in. Just make it quick please. No longer than thirty minutes okay?"

Weiss nodded flashing a bright smile "Of course, I'll make sure I'm out before then."

Cyan grinned as she passed "Go get 'em tiger."

Weiss failed to suppress a blush. The two continued to bicker as she made her way through the now familiar space of the infirmary. Despite the poorly lit room, Weiss had no trouble navigating through and around the beds as she quickly made her way to Roxas's bedside.

"Hey Roxas." She smiled looking down at his sleeping form. His lips were slightly parted as he breathed in and out.

She pulled up a chair and sat down.

"Sorry if I made you feel like I nearly forgot about you." She began "I just, well, I wanted to talk to you alone today. And the nurses are always so nosy when someone is speaking to you… I suppose it's due to Ozpin's orders keeping you safe no matter what after what happened. I know I've said it before but, I'm sorry I wasn't there to help. I wish I had been." Her expression grew serious, her eyes sparkled with fire "I would have given them each a piece of my mind if I had been there! I promise not a one would have laid a hand on you…" The fire in her eyes slowly faded "I'm glad Ruby was there. As annoying as I find her… she kept you safe… and I've thanked her for that I hope you know. It was hard to, like I was somehow admitting defeat, but it felt like the right thing to do."

The room fell silent.

"Oh!" The girl started as she set the rectangular object previously pinned to her chest in her lap and reached into a pocket.

"I got another one!" She said with a bright smile as she presented a vibrant pink seashell to the boy.

He responded with a very slow exhale.

"I read that you like them. I wish I had been there when you woke up last time and saw them…maybe I'll be there when you see these ones." Her hand slowly extended and set the shell on the bedside with the two others.

"I practiced with Namine today. Well, I should specify that I practiced expressing my feelings for you to her." She let out a quiet giggle "I swear, that girl reminds me of you in so many ways it's funny. She responded exactly how you would so many times. But finally… I figured out how to say it…" she paused, sighing "I just hope I get a chance to say it when you're awake before you go off and get yourself injured again."

Her lower lip quivered as her eyes slowly lowered to the object resting in her lap "I don't know how you're going to respond to finding out that I took your diary from the castle. Or maybe I should call it a journal…. That's what boys call it right? A journal? Ah, I suppose you wouldn't care about that either way." Slowly, she raised the journal in her hands, her eyes scanning over its cover "I took the liberty of having a lock installed so that… well… no one like me can look into it again without permission." She said presenting the small lock clasping together the front and back cover of the small leather journal.

"You'll probably find this unnecessary, but I had the key shaped into one of your Keyblades. They key maker thought I was being ridiculous, but… I think it turned out pretty good." The girl reached into her pocket and pulled out a miniature version of the Oathkeeper attached to a thin silver chain necklace "Now, before you ask, I already know that you're wondering why I picked your Oathkeeper over the Oblivion."

Roxas responded with a snore.

"Well if you must know, the reason is… well… it seemed more appropriate. An 'Oathkeeper' seems like a key more designed to keep secrets than an 'Oblivion'. Plus, well, as you've probably noticed I think a white color scheme is more fitting." She said motioning to her outfit. "Unlikely… but maybe one day you'll come to think of that necklace as a symbol of me…? Stupid I know. Just an idea I had I suppose."

Weiss smiled weakly, her eyelids drooping as she continued to look upon Roxas's sleeping face. She reached out and gently placed the book at the boy's bedside before reaching out and delicately allowing the necklace to fall around Roxas's neck. The miniature Oathkeeper rested on the boy's collar bone.

"Here. This is yours… it's always been yours. I never should have taken it. I'm sorry Roxas. I hope you can forgive me when you eventually find out. I wish I could just be upfront about it and present the book to you when you're awake but…" her voice shuttered "In all honesty… I'm scared. I don't want you to hate me." Weiss felt her eyes growing wet "I'm scared that when you do finally find out… when I do eventually find the courage to tell you, you'll want nothing to do with me for betraying your trust in such a significant way."

Weiss wiped her eyes before they could shed a tear.

"Anyway, let's not end this visit on a low note shall we?" She forced a smile and Roxas inhaled.

"Namine convinced me that I should practice telling you how I feel to the actual you rather than just practicing on her all the time." She let out a quiet laugh, "I figure she has a point. So, I'll give you a little snippet of how I feel so that I'm not a blubbering mess when you're awake."

The girl took a deep inhale, and then exhale, calming her nerves "You...I don't know how to describe you. You're strong, handsome, and honest. Most of all honest. You're legitimately the first person I know for certain who doesn't view me for what my family is, and thus can't view me as a one way ticket to royalty and riches…. Since you literally have no clue what any of that is." She let out a faint laugh, "That's a strange reason to have feelings for someone, isn't it?" She paused, her gaze looking down "I suppose it is. It's tough sometimes coming from a rich household. I've had several boys chase after me before. One of them I even liked back, that is until I discovered that he was only after my money." she scowled, before looking up and smiling at the boy in front of her "When I see you look at me. When I see you smile at me… I know it's only me you see. And everytime you give me that look I just…" she slowly raised a hand to her chest "Well, a part of me just leaps up in my chest and I can't help but smile."

She sighed, "Well, that's as far as I've gotten so far. Still working on the rest." Slowly, the girl rose to her feet. "I suppose I should say goodbye then. I imagine that if I stay any longer Cerise is going to yell at me." She stifled a laugh.

Weiss slowly turned to walk away, before pausing and turning back towards the boy with wide, nervous eyes. The girl's head whipped back and forth as she surveyed the room.

"No one's here…" She murmured to herself as she stared down at Roxas's face. Her cheeks turned a light shade of pink as she slowly approached the boy before leaning forward, her face mere inches away from his.

"You're… warm." She whispered as she could feel his heat radiating off of him.

Moving slower than a ice cube down a hill the girl closed the gap between her and the boy until her lips could feel his breath.

She sighed, shaking her head she whispered, "Wake up soon, okay?" before raising her aim and slowly placing a small kiss on the boy's forehead .

* * *

\- … -

"Swim this way, we'll dance and we'll play now it's very easy, come on in just take a chance and shake a fin!"

Please get me out of here! I don't want to be here!

"Don't be shy, let the music inside and dance, dance, dance!"

Please! I'm done here! I've seen all I need to!

"Swim this way, we'll dance and we'll play now its very easy, come on in just take a chance and shake a fin!"

Come on! Fade out! Fade out!

"See the sign? Can you reach it in time and tap, tap, tap?

Why does this one feel so long!? Why are there fish singing!?

"Swim this way, we'll dance and we'll play now its very easy, come on in just take a chance and shake a fin!"

Ugggghhhh why am I singing!?

"It's all the same, if you've got steady aim just zap, zap, zap!"

PLEASE LET THAT BE THE FINAL CHORUS!

"Swim this way, we'll dance and we'll play now its very easy, come on in just take a chance and shake a fin!"

IT DOESN'T END! DID THAT CRAB JUST SAY THAT IT'S NOT OVER YET?!

"Swim this way, we'll dance and we'll play now its very easy, come on in just take a chance and shake a fin!"

Alright I'm done with this place! C'mon wake up! Wake! Up!

"Just a touch , 'cause it won't take too much to pop, pop, pop!"

I SAID WAKE! UP! C'MON! I NEED TO WAKE! UP!

.

.

!

Suddenly, Roxas felt his eyes snap open as he lurched forward, his forehead colliding with something hard.

"Erk!"

"Ow!"

Weiss reeled back holding her mouth with one hand grimacing with pain as Roxas rubbed his forehead.

Turning his head with a furrowed brow he asked "...W-Weiss?"

She stared at him with wide eyes "R-Roxas!" She stammered "I- you're awake!"

"Yeah, I'm awake alright." He said groaning before his eyes snapped open with panic "How's everyone else? Are they okay?"

Weiss smiled "Yeah, Ruby and Penny are doing just fine."

Roxas raised an eyebrow "Penny?... Penny… you mean that girl I met in the Commercial District? Was she caught up in the breach?" Roxas shook his head "I'm talking about my team, Namine, team Rainbow and Coffee, are they okay?"

Weiss shot him a confused look "Yeah… of course they're okay you saw them just a few days ago after the breach."

Roxas titled his head "After the…? What do you mean? Did they come and visit me while I was out?"

"Well… yeah they did of course, but they also came and visited you once you woke up." Weiss's eyes narrowed in confusion "Don't you remember?"

"I…" Roxas paused, his expression puzzled as he looked down "I just remember being in that tunnel with all those people. It was dark… then I saw all of you guys coming down the tunnel...and then it all went black."

Weiss's eyes widened, her face turning pale "You don't remember waking up, all of us celebrating with you. You and Ruby going down to the Residential District and getting attacked?"

Roxas gave the girl a blank stare "I woke up…?" He paused, looking down as he mumbled beneath his breath, repeating Weiss's words "I woke up… you guys all celebrated with me..."

He started to feel a dull pain in the back of his mind, but he pushed through it as he struggled to remember, his eyes flashed open "I do remember waking up! There was a nurse… he called me a 'legend' for some reason… then you all were there." He paused looking up at Weiss for confirmation "Then… did Coco give me a kiss on the cheek?" The dull pain in the back of his head started to grow forcing the boy to grimace.

Weiss's cheeks flushed as she frowned "Yeah that did happen, much to my disapproval. I mean she didn't even ask permission. That's quite rude if you ask-" She paused mid sentence, reflecting on the past minute "Well, maybe not that rude."

"Then… I remember ugh...I think I remember that I was forced to… wait for a couple days before I was… allowed to leave...ngh." The pain in his head had developed into a splitting headache causing the boy to clutch the side of his head with a hand.

Weiss's eyebrow had raised at this point "Roxas? Are you okay?"

Roxas continued to mumble what he could remember "Then I ngh! I went to the library to…erk!" He suddenly clasped his eyes shut tight, the pain in his head beginning to become too much for him to handle.

"Roxas stop! You're hurting yourself!" Weiss rushed to his side, holding his face between her hands.

YOU'RE FORGETTING SOMETHING IMPORTANT!

His mind screamed at him as he continued to push his way through the pain trying to recall the past week's events "I was… researching something… ngh! Was it…for school? No, that's not it."

"Please Roxas stop! You're scaring me!" Weiss said frantically before turning to look over her shoulder. "I'll go get the guards, they'll know what to do. Just stay here!" She said before turning heel and sprinting down the room.

Meanwhile, the pain in Roxas's head had grown blinding to the point that he couldn't even open his eyes if he'd wanted to "I was… looking up… what a Erk!... A kiss is…" he felt his body begin to tremble. It was familiar to him for some reason.

"Then I… ngh! Blake! That's right…. Blake and I had a talk… then...ugh… Ruby… and I…" Footsteps were running back towards him now, he could hear the voices of two concerned grown men.

"Ruby and I went down to the… UGH!" The pain had intensified to its peak at this point, Roxas felt like he was teetering on consciousness again. He could barely keep his voice from crying out in pain.

I…. I can't... I need to stop.

He told himself as he let the memories begin to fade away. Immediate relief started to flood his mind.

YOU'RE FORGETTING SOMETHING IMPORTANT!

The back of his mind screamed at him, prompting him to reach out and seize the memories before they fell back to the recesses of his brain. He didn't know it at the time, but his voice had been raising to a scream.

"Ruby and I went! Down! To! The! Little! Ursa!" Each word magnified the torture seemingly attempting to split his brain in two. He could distinguish that there were hands on his shoulders shaking him and yelling at him, but he couldn't discern what the voices were saying.

"WE ATE! AND, AFTER WE LEFT WE WENT!" He screamed in torment as his pain sensors overloaded before-

SNAP!

His mind filled with pure white as a flood of searing agony slammed against his brain like a tidal wave.

And then all he could hear were his own screams.

.

.

.

* * *

-Author's Note-

Well that was quite the ride now wasn't it? I imagine that there will be a sea full of ships here… a handful of semi-annoyed ships there… but alas I hope that all of you managed to enjoy the chapter for what it was. The fight scene was interesting to say the least. Writing out the action for 3 characters with such… unique fighting styles was quite the challenge, so hopefully it was well received :). It required me to look up each of their fighting styles individually and I realized that Penny is… sorta overpowered lol. She casually pulled a several ton airship down by simply walking backwards and managed to cut two others in half with her lazers! I soon realized that this is one of the few RWBY characters that can actually go toe to toe with characters within the Kingdom Hearts universe. I was so excited! Now I know that there will be several of you in the reviews telling me how I'm wrong in some way but… eh I don't care I think Penny is a little badass lol. Funnily enough, the toughest scene for me to write in this chapter was the one immediately following after the battle. Ozpin, for some reason, is extremely difficult for me to write. I literally at one point stopped, highlighted the entire section, pressed backspace, and redid it. It was that awkward. I hope the finished product was better!

Anyway! I am pleased to announce that operation butter Kittygb93 into beta reading a second chapter was a success! Thank you all for being so awesome and making that happen! (Blows kisses to the crowd!) your support is truly outstanding and the solel reason I am so devoted to updating so frequently now! So keep that butter coming XD! And now a message from the Beta-Beast herself, Kittygb93!

Hey! Me again, the great beta reader of the century! Haha, just joking! Anyway, I just want to say thank you all for your kind words and support after I helped RoxaShadow with his previous chapter. Your kind words gave me the motivation and courage to make the decision of being the beta reader for this awesome story so that I can be helpful and supportive of RoxaShadow as well as make it easier and enjoyable for you all to read. As I said before in the AN in the previous chapter, I'm not perfect or a pro at editing things like this (Roxa here! She's a hell of a lot better than I am!), so I do hope that you all still enjoy this chapter. I'll be looking forward to hearing what you all have to say, but if there is something that I missed or need to improve on, don't hesitate to tell me.

As is the Norm, All reviews will be responded to via PM! PEACE!


	33. Chapter 33: The Confused Heart

_**AN:**_ _To those who it may concern. Several of you took note of the fact that in the previous chapter Ironwood seemingly didn't remember Roxas despite the two already meeting in the past. That was a plot hole on my part. I have since corrected this exchange in the past chapter so that Ironwood recalls Roxas and their exchange. That was the only edit. Please enjoy!_

* * *

There was a single metallic, rusty door with peeling white paint leading to a room seemingly intentionally dimly lit and dirty. The walls were entirely composed of cement and stained by various browns and blacks from questionable sources. The floor matched this design with little else decorating the space. Demyx sat with his legs crossed. He'd brought his forearm inches away from his face, his eyes narrowing into tiny slits as he examined the small holes torn through the cloth. He stuck a gloved finger through one of the many littering his coat and sighed.

Turning to Roman sitting in an equally uncomfortable looking chair on his right he asked "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know anything about sewing would you?" Demyx raised his arm, poking a finger through the hole on his sleeve as he did. The Nobody gave the man a questioning look before Roman scowled. The crime boss rolled his eyes as he turned away, deciding to exam the stains on the walls rather than engage in Demyx's conversation.

The Nobody shrugged "That's cool. Not everyone does." before turning towards his left where Neo sat cross legged with her umbrella collapsed on her lap.

"How about you? Do you know anything about sewing?" He said providing the same gesture by sticking his finger through the hole.

Neo met his eyes and then frowned before leaning forward to further exam the cloth. The girl felt at the tear with her thumb and index finger before shaking her head with a shrug of her shoulders.

Demyx let out a defeated sigh "That's alright, it was a long shot anyway. Guess I'll just ask Cinder when she gets-"

Suddenly, the metallic door slammed open, creating a clanging noise as it collided with the hard cement wall.

"Hey speak of the devil!" The Nobody said with a bright smile as he rose to his feet. Cinder glared at the man as he rose, the curves of her mouth pulled into a tight frown.

"Hey Cin! Do you know anything about sewing or maybe-"

" **Sit. Down.** " The woman hissed as she stepped into the room, slamming the door behind her.

An audible gulp could be heard from Demyx as he swiftly sat himself back on the hard wooden chair.

Cinder's heels clicked against the floor as she slowly made her way towards the trio. Roman stared back at the young woman defiantly with his arms crossed as Neo looked like a cat ready to pounce. Demyx appeared nervous as a small bead of sweat ran down the side of his face.

Once she was standing in front of them she spoke with such a malice in her voice that Demyx couldn't remember a single other time she'd sounded _this angry_ "I sent the three of you on a mission to eliminate a short, nearly crippled fifteen year old boy seperated from Ozpin in the middle of the Residential District at night. I couldn't think of a better opening besides him offering you the handle of a blade currently pressed against his throat," She paused, raising a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose "and yet, _somehow_ -" She lowered her hand, revealing a glare so filled with anger that Demyx swore he could feel the heat radiating from it " _None_ of you managed to carry out the mission. Not. A single. **One of you**!"

Roman's frown deepened as he continued to glare back at the woman "Ruby Rose was there. We-"

"A First year!?" Cinder snapped "You're suggesting a mere first year was all it took for the _three_ of you to fail?"

"She certainly didn't fight like a first year." Roman muttered under his breath.

Cinder paused, giving the man an inquisitive stare before demanding "Elaborate. Now."

Roman sighed, adjusting himself so that he was leaning forward as he looked Cinder in the eye "Now these two," He pointed at Demyx and Neo, "They'd never seen Little Red in action before this mission. _I,_ on the other hand, had the misfortune to encounter the girl at a Dust shop sometime near the start the the semester at Beacon."

"Get to the **point**." Cinder hissed between clenched teeth, clearly not feeling in a particularly _patient_ mood.

"The point is," Roman began in an agitated tone "I saw her fighting style when she was beating on my hired guns. I saw how she handled herself in a fight. Hell, even you saw how she responded to your flames when that Huntress showed up!"

Cinder's eyebrows furrowed as she continued to listen.

"The girl I fought last night was taking on not me, not just Neo, but all _three_ of us at the same time." He scowled "She's grown leagues above that little girl I encountered in the Dust shop all that time ago to the point that I could barely recognize her."

Cinder's eyes narrowed "She's only been at Beacon for a few months, her fighting prowess should be virtually the same in such a short amount of time. What are you saying?"

"What I'm saying," Roman began as his eyes narrowed, staring directly into Cinder's "Is that if you were to tango with the same girl _we_ had last night, she would have given _you_ a run for your money." As he said the last word he sat back in his seat, crossing his arms "So why don't _you_ tell _me_ how a first year was able to hold the three of us off for as long as she did, huh?"

A gloved hand shot up into the air, drawing Cinder's gaze.

"...Yes Neo?" The woman in red asked with a raised eyebrow.

Neo rose from her seat and approached Demyx before pointing at his coat.

Demyx shot the girl a strange look "Um… my coat?"

The girl's slender fingers quickly reached out and began to mess with the Nobody's hair.

"What are you- hey!" Demyx complained as Neo pulled back, revealing a several golden spikes now sticking up from the Nobody's head.

Looking up at his new hair due Demyx chuckled "Hey! I look kinda like Roxas now don't I?"

Neo nodded with a satisfied smile before meeting Cinder's eye with a serious gaze. Without breaking eye contact the girl stepped beside Demyx again, loosely carrying her umbrella in her hand as she stood side by side with the still sitting form of Demyx. The man was seemingly paying her no mind as his hands reached up to try and return his hair to normal.

Without warning, Neo's umbrella swung moving faster than a blink of the eye as she aimed directly for Demyx's face. It came an inch from the Nobody's nose before stopping in its tracks, a black glove having reached out and stop it.

"Hey!" Demyx complained as he pulled the umbrella out of Neo's hand "No more umbrella privileges for you if you're gonna start hitting people!"

Neo's gaze was still on Cinder as the woman's eyes narrowed and then widened.

"Damn it!" Cinder suddenly exclaimed as she slammed a fist into the wall behind her.

Roman raised an eyebrow, his eyes darting back and forth between Neo and Cinder "Sorry if I'm not quite as intuitive as you are but, care to explain what Neo's little charade just told you?"

"Roxas is a part of team Purger!" Cinder snapped turning back towards the man "The team consists of Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Ruby Rose and last of all Roxas."

"...So?" Demyx questioned having finally gotten his hair back to normal.

"So!" Cinder began burying her face into her palm "That would suggest that as a team they train together. Any person will tell you that your training is only as valuable as the partner you're training with, as the challenge you're presented to train against." She sighed "If you make a person lift a five pound dumbell every day for an hour, you wouldn't expect them to grow much stronger after a month now would you?"

Roman frowned "No, I guess I wouldn't"

"Now take that same person and give them a forty pound weight, or fifty pound weight. Make them lift that for an hour every day for a month. Now, do you think that maybe that person might have developed some muscles after a month's time?"

Roman nodded, chewing on his bottom lip as he began to put the pieces together.

"Now take that weight, and substitute it with a person. A person, who is strong enough to fight a literal _army_ of Grimm. Strong enough to put Demyx here." She motioned to the Nobody currently fiddling with a hole in his sleeve "Down for the count in a matter of a few swings."

"Hey!" The man complained.

"Is that not the truth!" Cinder snapped, giving the Nobody a deep glare.

"I-... he…" Demyx's gaze fell as he muttered "He got the drop on me is all…"

Roman nodded "She's been training with a literal one man army all this time." His shoulders depressed "No wonder she was able to handle the three of us for as long as she did. She's been having to face a figurative _monster_ all this time."

"Exactly." Cinder sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose "I didn't account for that. I should have realized that the people in close proximity to Roxas would have grown stronger by association."

The room fell silent. Neo slowly returned to her seat.

Cinder's hand slowly fell from her face, revealing a devious grin as he eyes fell on Demyx.

"Um…" The Nobody mumbled as the woman slowly approached him, her hips moving side to side like a lioness on a hunt.

Leaning forward, her face came inches from Demyx's as amber eyes met blue.

"If team Purger wants to use their little secret weapon to grow stronger." Her grin widened "Then _we'll_ just have to do the same."

Demyx gulped "You… want me to fight against you all?"

Cinder shook her head "No, not just that. Although, combat training will serve its purpose soon enough." Her eyes took in Demyx like he was her next meal "I want you to teach me."

Demyx's eyes widened with confusion "Teach… you?"

"You're going to teach me your little," she made a motion with a hand "'Cure' ability. Your gonna teach me how you make that 'Dark Corridor' as you named it." She paused revealing a toothy grin "You're going to show me _all_ of it. Teach me _all_ of it."

Cinder pulled back, eyeing Roman and Neo before continuing "And then, with time, we'll _all_ be able to do these things." Her gaze grew serious "And then **nothing** will be able to stop us."

* * *

 **-Beacon Academy: Class Halls-**

"So he just woke up this morning?" Ironwood said as he took long strides down the hallway.

"Indeed. Apparently he awoke with massive head pains. Onstaff medical professionals are currently treating him." Ozpin spoke as he walked alongside the man.

Soon the duo arrived just outside of the infirmary where two guards stood at post.

One was quietly singing "Don't be shy, let the music inside and dance, dance-"

"Can you _please_ cut that out?" The other guard complained.

"What?" His partner said playfully "I think it's catchy."

"Oh! Ozpin! How are you doing sir?" said Cerise.

The headmaster raised his lips into a thin smile "Just fine Cerise. I've come to check up on Roxas. I heard he awoke just last night?"

"Yeah, and he's been humming a catchy tune ever since." Cyan snickered.

Ozpin raised an eyebrow at this.

"He's um…" Cerise began nervously "Well when he awoke he was screaming… clutching his head and… well…"

"The nurses had to sedate him." Cyan commented with a toothy grin "He's been cracking me up all day."

"Is that right?" Ironwood said with a frown.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce you. How very rude." Ozpin said turning to his friend "Cerise, Cyan, this is General Ironwood, headmaster of Atlas Academy."

"How do you do." The general spoke formally.

The two guards leaned in, presumably squinting at James behind their visors before immediately straightening up.

"G-general Ironwood sir! My apologies for not recognizing you sooner!" Commented Cerise with his chin up and his arms pinned to his sides.

"Please accept my apologies as well sir!" Announced Cyan uncharacteristically serious.

Ironwood chuckled before waving a hand "Relax soldiers, I'm not here on official business. I'm just here to check up on Roxas like Ozpin is."

"Please, right this way sirs!" Cerise said motioning for the two men to enter.

The two men stepped forward, and when they did, they were met with a strange sight.

Standing bare footed atop his bed was Roxas. His eyes were half closed as he swayed back and forth dancing to a song he himself was singing.

"Swim this way, we'll dance and we'll play now its very easy, come on in just take a chance and shake a fin!"

Two nurses were on either side of the young man frantically trying to convince the boy to sit back down.

"Please! You'll hurt yourself!"

"You're not fully healed! Lay down please!"

"Pfffft," Roxas began, his words slurring as he began to balance on one leg and pretend he was swimming through water "I'm, purrrrfectly fiiiiine." He said with a wide smile "Look! I'm swimming!" He continued to make swimming motions.

"Oh dear, we may have given him the wrong dose…" The nurse commented as Ironwood and Ozpin walked up next to the man.

"It's all the same, if you've got steady aim just zap, zap, zap!"

"Hopefully not enough to be dangerous." Ozpin commented with a smile as he continued to watch the spectacle.

The nurse immediately started jumping a foot off the ground before turning and addressing the headmaster "Oh! Headmaster! I didn't notice you there! No, no of course we didn't give him a potentially dangerous amount of sedatives… it's just, well we expected him to fall asleep from the painkillers… instead…" He turned back to where Roxas was now rapidly jogging in place.

"I'm a lighting bolt!" He exclaimed grinning ear to ear "Just try and catch me!"

"Roxas," Ozpin called out, now sporting a toothy grin "I have someone here that would like to meet you."

Roxas's head turned when he heard Ozpin's voice. The boy's eyes were dilated to the point that they nearly consumed the entire whites of his eyes when they trained on Ozpin and Ironwood beside him.

"Dudemaster Ozzy!" Roxas exclaimed with a cheer before leaping over the other nurse trying to convince him to come down. The boy landed in a less than elegant manner before stumbling his way towards the two Headmasters.

"How's it hanging my dudes?" Roxas said with a wide smile, his words slurred.

"It's 'hanging' well." Ozpin said trying to contain a laugh quickly building in his chest "I just wanted to re-introduce you to an old friend of mine, General Ironwood." He said with a motion to the man beside him.

James Ironwood's eyes were as wide as saucers as his eyes studied Roxas with disdain before he realized it was his time to speak.

"Oh! Right…" He began awkwardly before reaching out a hand for a handshake "It's nice to see you again Roxas. It's been some time."

Roxas stared down at the outstretched hand for several seconds before reaching into his shirt and pulling out a small Oathkeeper attached to a silver chain around his neck.

The boy prodded the outstretched hand with his key several times as he asked "What is that thing?" Roxas slowly lowered his gaze until he was staring at his own hand pinching the Oathkeeper between his thumb and index finger.

"Oh," He blurted out in realization "It's a hand. I have a hand. I have _two_ hands." The boy quickly returned the miniature Oathkeeper to beneath his shirt before reaching out and grabbing hold of Ironwood's fingers and performing an exaggerated handshake up and down.

"Nice to see you again I-run-wood." The boy paused, thinking over his comment with a puzzled look "Why do you 'run wood? Are you running away from it?" His face adopted a shocked expression before leaning in towards the man and whispering "Are you scared of wood? Is that why you run?"

Cyan's laugh could be heard by the entrance.

Roxas smiled as he pulled back "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone your secret." He bore a satisfied smile.

"Right…" Ironwood began with an uncomfortable smile "Well, I wanted to talk to you, but it appears that you're busy right now-"

"Oh very!" Roxas said placing his hands on his hips and adopting a serious expression "I'm trying to teach these two how to run as fast as a lightning bolt," He said pointing a thumb towards the worried looking nurses "But they're slow learners." He breathed a tired sigh "It's hard work, but someone has to do it."

Ironwood nodded, forcing a smile "Well, I'll leave you to it."

At this point the laughter building in Ozpin's chest broke through, leaving the Headmaster leaning on his knees as he let out a bellowing laugh.

Ironwood scowled looking over his shoulder at his friend "We should be going now." before addressing Roxas once more "Have a good day Roxas."

"I'll pay you a visit later Roxas. Don't give your nurses too much trouble okay?" Ozpin said catching his breath from his previous bout of laughter.

"Will do Ozzy-oz born!" Roxas saluted.

The two headmasters turned to leave, making it all the way to the entrance before they heard Roxas's voice call from behind them "Oh! And I-run-wood! Don't go into the forest nearby! That'll be really scary for you!"

The two turned down the hallway as Roxas's voice sang out "Just a touch , 'cause it won't take too much to pop, pop, pop!"

"That was so embarrassing." Ironwood stated seriously.

"I found it hilarious." Ozpin commented with a smile.

"Of course you did. You-" The general paused, his eyes narrowing "You knew he'd been sedated before you called for me, didn't you?'

Ozpin's smile widened.

Ironwood released a tired sigh "Please call for me again once he's come down from his current high."

Ozpin snickered and nodded "Of course, General."

* * *

 **-Several hours later: Beacon Academy-**

Ruby mentally scolded herself as her feet carried her at a sprint down the hallway. Visiting hours had commenced an hour ago, but due to her having to get her battle skirt repaired down in Vale, she was running late.

She turned the corner to see the two guards were no longer at their posts.

Ruby tilted her head at this before entering the infirmary where she discovered her answer. Cerise and Cyan were both grinning ear to ear standing with the rest of her friends surrounding Roxas's bed.

She heard her sister's voice call out "So wait, it goes 'Swim this way, we'll dance and we'll play now its really easy, come on and just take a chance and shake a fin!' right?"

Ruby's eyebrow raised as she heard Roxas's voice slur out "No, no, no, it's 'Swim this way, we'll dance and we'll play now its _**very**_ easy, come on _**in**_ just take a chance and shake a fin _!"_

A wave of laughter rippled through the group.

"Oh! Ruby! You finally made it!" Nora said with a bright smile.

The group turned towards the girl who smiled "Hi guys!"

"You've missed out some serious hilarious moments Ruby." Jaune said grinning.

"But don't worry!" Pyrrha's voice rang out, raising her scroll with both hands "We've been recording it for later!"

Ruby snickered "Wait, why? What's going on?"

Ren who was wearing a faint smile answered "Roxas is on some serious pain meds."

"And they're _suppose_ to knock him out! So he might rest and _recover!_ " One of the nearby nurses commented with annoyance clear in his voice as he went about folding a blanket nearby.

"Yeah," Yang began "But in a typical fashion, Roxas is too strong for 'em so now he's just incredible loopy right now… hey, what's that in your hands?"

Ruby looked down at the two popsicles she was carrying in either hand. She'd gone out and bought two sweet blue popsicles while she was out. They weren't seasalt as she had been hoping to find, but they were sweet, and Ruby had been hoping that Roxas would enjoy them all the same.

"Oh well," The girl blushed "I thought I might pick up something nice for Roxas to enjoy now that he's awake."

"Wait… Ruby?" Roxas's voice called out, the slur in his words fading "Is that you?" The group parted as Roxas pushed his way through until he was standing in front of the girl.

Ruby's eyes widened as she looked into the boy's eyes. Now that he was standing right in front of her, the memories of their last date rushed to the forefront of Ruby's mind, their dinner, their walk, their kiss…

Ruby's cheeks blushed a bright red as she averted her gaze towards the floor "H-Hey Roxas, glad to see you're feeling alright after that little fight." She stammered "Would you like some ice cream?" She asked sticking an arm.

"...Fight…?" He said, staring down at the popsicle in front of him "Were… we in a fight?" Roxas mumbled as he slowly reached up and picked the popsicle from the girl's fingers.

Ruby's eyebrows furrowed as she stared at the boy "Well… yeah, don't you remember?"

Yang's eyes widened as she rushed to her sister's side "Hey sis can we chat for a bit?" before grabbing Ruby's hand and pulling her away.

Once they were standing just out of hear shot at the infirmary's door frame, Yang began to speak in hushed tones "So the doctors are saying that Roxas is suffering from amnesia right now and that whenever he tries to remember he-"

"Ruby?" Roxas interrupted appearing just beside the sisters. His eyes were wide and staring intently at Ruby with wonder.

Ruby who was trying to process what Yang just said while addressing Roxas simply said "Oh! Uh, how are you?"

"I-" Roxas's eyes began to squint "I feel like, I'm forgetting something… when I… look at you…" the boy slowly raised a hand to the side of his head as his face contorted into a tight grimace.

Yang's eyes widened with panic as her eyes darted between Ruby and Roxas. Moving so that she was blocking Ruby from view she quickly began to say "No, no, no! The fish song remember? Swim this way, we'll dance and we'll play now its very easy, come on in just take a chance and shake a fin! That's it, right?"

"We… we were out… eating. Ngh!" Roxas had raised his second hand to the side of his head, smushing popsicle into his hair. Slowly, the boy began to lower himself into a crouch as his head lowered "And… and then… Penny was… NGH!" His eyes had closed at this point.

Ruby kneeled at his side, placing a hand on his back as she asked "Roxas!? Roxas are you okay!?"

"You… we… we were at a… river UGH!" Roxas suddenly rolled onto his side, his hands clutching the sides of his head tightly as his knees curled up to his chest. There was suddenly a rapid clicking of heels before Ruby felt hands shove her away.

Ruby fell to the floor only to look up bewildered and see Weiss standing over her "Roxas starts to have massive headaches whenever anything reminds him of that night! Your face is reminding him right now!" The girl quickly turned to face Roxas before kneeling to a crouch beside Yang who was frantically trying to get his attention.

"See the sign? Can you reach it in time and tap, tap, tap? C'mon! Sing it with me Roxas! Swim this way, we'll dance and we'll play now its very easy- someone get the nurse!" Yang suddenly called out back towards the infirmary.

Ruby pushed herself to her feet before asking "Is there anything I can do to help!?" She felt pressure beginning to build behind her eyes as she watched Roxas's form tighten around itself at the sound of her voice.

"We… ERK! We tumbled down the...NGH hill! And then…! AGH!" Ruby's eyes widened as she noticed Roxas's tense body begin to tremble.

The sound of several feet hurriedly approaching filled the air along with Roxas's screams.

Weiss turned on her heel and stared at Ruby with a harsh gaze, her eyes were fighting back tears "You really want to help right now?"

"Yes! I'll do anything!" Ruby's eyes were wet.

"Then get out of here as fast as you can!" Weiss called out over Roxas's torrents of agony. The Schnee turned her back to Ruby just as the nurse arrived.

Ruby's eyes widened with terror as she froze in place, realizing what she was being told. Hey eyes stared down at the young man before her and it was like time slowed to a stop as a rush of thoughts raced through her head. The boy she'd finally been able to express her feelings for, the same boy who'd risked his life multiple times for her, couldn't see her without having a debilitating migraine? It felt unreal, like the universe was playing a cruel joke on her heart, crushing it and clawing it with fingernails laced with irony. He'd _finally_ kissed her, after all this time he'd reflected the feelings she'd had for him, and now, he couldn't even recall them? It felt like she'd had the air knocked out of her and she couldn't catch her breath. Her mind was spinning and there was no way to stop it. She felt weightless, her body numb to the touch and she tried to process it all. She felt empty, like her heart had just been ripped out of her chest and presented to her.

At that moment, she figured it might as well have.

A slow trickle began to run down the girl's cheek as she turned on her heel and immediately began to dash down the hallway. Soon her feet were swept off the ground as her semblance took affect, leaving a flourish of rose petals behind her as she rocketed down the hallway. Her vision blurred by tears, she collided with the wall at the end of the hall, hitting the floor before scrambling to her feet and around the corner so that she could no longer see her friends quicky swarming around where Roxas had collapsed. Ruby stumbled a few more feet, wiping her face with a sleeve before crumpling to her knees. Her hands trembled as she stared down at the second popsicle in her hand. This had been meant for Roxas when he'd seen her. She'd wanted to make him smile, to see that sparkle in his eye when he laughed. She'd wanted to feel that warm fuzzy feeling in her chest she always got when she was around the boy, magnified by his happiness. Instead, that warm fuzzy feeling had been replaced by a cold grip around her chest, a hard beating of her heart that she could hear in her ears as she felt her body begin to tremble.

She took a deep, shaky breath, and then she cried.

* * *

 **-One Hour Later, Beacon Academy: Infirmary-**

"Phew… he's finally back to sleep." Commented the doctor with a tired smile. Roxas was laying still on the bed, his eyes shut as his chest slowly rose and fell rhythmically.

"Do you know why he's been suffering from such an extreme case of amnesia?" Weiss asked with hands on her hips. Yang stood beside the girl having helped carry the boy in with her. The rest of the group had been asked to leave as the nurses and medical personnel got to work.

The doctor, whose name was Sage the two girls had been told, breathed a sigh "It's tough to say." He pulled a chair and sat down "The thing with amnesia is that there are so many different types. Retrograde amnesia, anterograde amnesia , transient global amnesia, and they all can be caused by entirely different events. Some that you wouldn't even believe," he forced a tired half-smile, it was clear that the man hadn't slept for days. "From what tests we've been able to run it seems that your friend is suffering from a variety of retrograde amnesia. From what we've gathered, this was a result of some sort of severe brain trauma experienced that night."

"When do you think he'll be healed?" Yang asked.

Sage let out a slow half hearted laugh "Well that's the thing." He reached out and began to slowly unwrap Roxas's forearm. Raising it to eye level, he revealed that the gashes and cuts previously littering the boy's arm were nothing more than faint pink lines.

"His aura has finally recovered and is starting to heal him, and as far as auras go, his is _strong._ " He shot the girls a look as they snickered.

"Yeah we figured as much." Yang commented with a grin.

"Not really a surprise to be honest." Weiss said with crossed arms.

The doctor rolled his eyes before continuing "I imagine in a day or so his body will have made a full physical recovery." He paused "Although, I imagine that he'll have some scars that will take some time for them to truly go away."

Weiss and Yang nodded.

"His _mind_ , however, is another story." Sage continued "It's really up in the air for how long it will take for his brain to recover the memories he's lost. Amnesia can range from mere days, weeks, months, and sometimes..." He turned to the girls with a serious expression "In rare cases the condition can even be permanent."

Yang's frown deepened "But what about his headaches? Will those go away?"

The nurse sighed as he looked down "I want to say they will in time, but honestly? I've never seen a case where reminders to the event result in pain for the patient. It's like trying to remember that night forces him to… re-experience the brain trauma that caused the condition in the first place." Sage paused, chewing on his lip as his brow furrowed "We did some 'CT' scans early this morning and asked him to try and recollect that night during the scan. When he did we saw massive flashes of activity in his frontal and temporal lobes as well as his hippocampus. It was like his mind was being set ablaze when he tried to recount that night's events."

The man frowned "The amount of activity we saw going on was dangerously high, I speculated that it could be damaging to the brain itself which is why we immediately attempted to sedate him." He chuckled before adding "With little success."

Weiss and Yang both reflected thin smiles.

"So… where does that leave us?" Weiss asked "What can we do about the matter to assure Roxas makes a swift recovery?"

The man paused studying the floor before meeting the girl's eye "As of now? There is very little that we _can_ do. Thankfully it seems that the memory lost has been isolated to just that night. Trust me when I say some people lose their entire lives from amnesia. Your friend is very lucky it's been delegated to just one night."

Yang's eyes grew wide as her pupils darted back and forth from Roxas to the doctor "But what if the memory on that night is, like, super important?" She suddenly stammered out, prompting a raised eyebrow from Weiss.

The doctor released a sigh "Like I said, there's very little we can do as of right now. Aside from avoiding provoking these headaches, the healing left to be done is up to him now."

"Speaking of which," Weiss began, "Those headaches, I imagine that we should do our best to avoid anything that might prompt Roxas to try and remember the night's activities, correct?"

Sage nodded "Considering the potential damage they may be able to cause, the longer Roxas's brain has to heal without suffering from these headaches, the better chances he has towards making a full recovery." He paused, frowning "Your friend from earlier, the one in red, if I'm not mistaken, she was with him on the night in question correct?"

Yang nodded "She's my little sister, her name is Ruby. She's the one who protected him that night."

Sage's frown deepened "Are… the two close?" He said making a motion towards Roxas's sleeping form.

Yang opened her mouth, paused and then continued to answer "They are… they're… really close friends." Weiss looked away with a frown.

"Well, then I hope she can be understanding in the matter of Roxas's condition."

"Are you suggesting that Ruby…?" Weiss began with a raised eyebrow.

The doctor nodded "I feel that it would be best for Roxas's condition that, until he's made a full recovery, Ruby does her best to avoid interactions with him."

* * *

 **-Infirmary: Several hours later-**

Roxas's eyes slowly fluttered open before his gaze focused on the ceiling above him. He remained still for several seconds, his eyes slowly blinking before he breathed a hard sigh, and sat up.

 _I feel like I've spent more time asleep than awake in the past week. I wonder if this is how Ruby felt when-_

As the name entered his mind he felt a sharp pain stabbing daggers into his brain. Remembering that this experience usually ended poorly for him, he quickly dismissed the train of thought.

His eyes scanned the infirmary around him. He was alone again. He looked down as he curled his hands into fists, flexing his muscles as he noticed that the pain from his wounds were no longer present.

"Huh…" He mumbled to himself as he reached down and began to unwrap his arm. There were only faint pink scars now.

"That's good." He mumbled to himself before his eyes widened.

 _Does this mean that I have my magic back?_

The teen felt a smile pull across his lips as he began to grow excited. He slowly hovered a hand over where a bit of scabbing was still present on one of his legs before hesitating.

 _This hurt a whole lot last time._

He thought to himself recalling when he'd last gotten out of bed and tried to cast cure on himself to speed up the healing process. A dull pain rang in the back of his head, but he ignored it as he tried to decide if he should risk it.

Shrugging he thought:

 _Won't know if I can until I try!_

The boy closed his eyes tightly as he braced himself for the migraine if this did fail before uttering the word "Cure."

Roxas flinched, but felt a smile play on his lips when a searing splitting headache didn't tear through his skull. The boy opened his eyes, expecting to see the familiar glow of green from the cure spell having activated.

He found nothing.

His eyebrows furrowed, he said again with more force "Cure!"

Again, nothing happened. His breathing quickened as his eyes grew wide with panic. Turning his open palm towards the wall he shouted "Fire! Thunder!"

Nothing.

The boy leapt from the bead, standing on his own two feet as he felt a cold sweat begin to run down the side of his face "Aero! Blizzard!" Once again, he was met with nothing.

 _No, no, no, NO!_

The boy immediately began testing his other abilities as he turned his gaze to focus on a point on the ground. His body trembled as he tried to will a Corridor of Darkness into existence as he'd done countless times before.

The floor remained untouched by black flame.

Roxas stared down at the clear tiled floor in shock, his mouth agape, his face the epitome of fear. His eyes snapped closed as he began to search deep within himself, trying to draw out the white flames he called upon whenever he needed the aid of his light. The teen searched for an entire minute, furiously trying to find even a spark of white within himself before realising he'd forgotten to breath.

Gasping, Roxas's eyes snapped open, his pupils searching frantically as his mind reeled, trying to make sense of it all.

 _What is_ _ **happening?!**_

His mind screamed as he took several rapid breaths in. Finally, his eyes grew large with concern as he reached out with on hand in a gesture he'd done hundreds of times.

He concentrated, as he tried to call his Oblivion to him.

For several seconds nothing happened as Roxas's face took on an expression of terror.

His arm began to slowly drop to his side before his face tightened, and he gritted his teeth.

 _No!_

His thoughts roared as he raised his arm again, his mind focusing even harder than last time.

 _I won't accept this! I know you're there! I know you feel my call Keyblade! So ANSWER ME!_

Roxas watched as small beads of light began to very slowly form a line in front of his hand. The boy's concentration remained unwavering as his arm trembled with desperation.

Finally, a very dim, very weak flash of light illuminated the room as he felt the familiar weight of the Oblivion in his hand… for about five seconds before his legs buckled beneath him.

Roxas fell back just barely missing the bed as his butt struck the ground. The boy was breathing hard as he felt sweat dripping from his pores. He felt like he'd just got done with his tenth marathon in a row as he stared down at the fruits of his labor. His Oblivion sitting on the floor in front of him. What had once been an effort as simple as breathing had seemingly costed him all of his energy. Roxas figured that if he'd tried to summon his Oathkeeper right now he'd probably fail.

Still breathing heavily, the boy shouted in frustration "What is happening to me!?"

* * *

 **-Beacon Academy: Headmaster's Office-**

"So, you're telling me that all of your abilities have suddenly vanished?" Ozpin's voice rang out. His eyebrow raised.

A slow nod was Roxas's response as he stood within the Headmaster's spacious office. A man Roxas had met once before, his name was Iron-something, was standing beside Professor Ozpin.

Roxas's gaze narrowed on the man for a moment before returning his attention to Ozpin. If he didn't know any better, he would have guessed that the man appeared… disappointed?

"Well, that's rather unfortunate." Ozpin leaned back in his chair, giving Roxas a studious expression "Any theories as to what the cause of such an event might be?"

Roxas's shoulders shifted into a shrug "I asked the doctor down there. His only hunch is that it might be related to my memory loss on that day."

"Hmm…" Ozpin paused, a hand cupping his chin as he chose his next words carefully "I imagine the doctor also detailed his… _recommendations_ towards your swiftest recovery?"

Roxas's expression grew sad "Yeah, he told me." Roxas had stared incredulously at the doctor when he'd been told that he would have to restrain from interactions with his team mate. He understood the arrangement was only temporary, but even now the knowledge that he wasn't going to be able to hang out with Ruby… pained him. Something in his chest wanted to see the girl, but that same want inspired a sharp splitting headache within the confines of his skull. Following the doctor's orders to not partake in any activity that prompted this response, he let the thought fade to the back of his mind.

Ozpin flashed a weak smile "Good. Unfortunately this means that, for the time being at least, it would make little sense for the two of you to remain in the same dorm. So, I've arranged for ulterior living arrangements for the time being."

Roxas raised an eyebrow at this comment "What do you mean?"

* * *

Weiss slowly shut the door behind herself before leaning back against the wood. Finally back in her room, she released a slow sigh as her gaze eased, her eyes staring at nothing as her mind began to wander. Her immediate thoughts raced back to Roxas in his current condition. She wondered when the next time she'd be able to speak to the normal, coherent Roxas again.

"...We're less than a week away from the dance now…" She quietly mumbled to herself.

"Weiss?" Chirped a voice.

Blinking, Weiss turned her head and saw Naminé sitting at the edge of her bed, a small sketchbook resting in her lap.

"Oh!" Weiss startled as she noticed the girl "I didn't-! You, you can be very quiet."

Naminé responded with a sheepish smile "Yeah, that makes sense." Her expression shifted to one of concern "How is Roxas? Is he okay?"

Weiss's lips pulled into a frown as she made her way over to where the girl was sitting, plopping down beside her "He's asleep again. The doctor advised that we not try and remind him of his lost memories for the time being, at least until he's healed."

Naminé's brows furrowed as her gaze shifted to the sketchbook in her lap "We… shouldn't try and help Roxas recover his memories?"

Weiss raised an eyebrow, looking between the girl and the sketchbook "Well, that's what the doctor said… why?"

Naminé stammered as she responded "O-Oh! No reason! I- I just figured that we should try and help Roxas in any way that we can is all!" The girl immediately reached down and tucked the sketchbook underneath her bed.

Weiss eyed the girl for a short time "Whatever you say…" Before sighing and falling back, sprawling out on the bed "I don't know how to ask him to the dance."

Naminé's head tilted to the side "Huh?"

Weiss sighed "It's a week away and I still haven't built up the courage to just… ask him." She shook her head "It's not like I'm pouring my heart out to him, it's just a simple request, but I…" she paused "I guess I just haven't been given the right opportunity."

Abruptly, the girl's scroll began to ring. Weiss pulled the device out of her pocket before raising an eyebrow.

Looking over toward Naminé concerned she said "It's the headmaster." Frowning before raising the scroll to an ear and answering.

"Hello Professor Ozpin," She politely answered "Is there anything I can help you with…?" Why would he be calling _her_ of all people? She wasn't a rebel, she was a straight A student, why would he be calling her directly?

"Ah Ms. Schnee, I hope I've caught you at a good time. You see, I wanted to see if you might be able to house a student within your dorm for the time being. It would be temporary of course, but I wanted to get your opinion on the matter before I jumped to any conclusions."

Weiss's expression of confusion only magnified as the man continued to speak. Hearing a pause for her to retort she found the only question her lips capable of asking were "Who's the student?"

* * *

Roxas found himself standing in the hallway in front of a dorm he felt like he was familiar with, but couldn't put his finger on it.

Ozpin was standing beside him, a content smile resting on his face as he rested his hands on his cane. They'd offered for Ironwood to accompany them, but the general had refused, stating that he had business elsewhere to attend to. While the two were leaving, Roxas had caught the general frown as he watched them leave.

"These two have been looking for another member to fill out their dorm, and considering they're already friends with you, I imagine they'd be happy to house you."

"Even though it's temporary." Roxas stated with a raised eyebrow, his arm adjusting as he carried his suitcase at his side.

Ozpin nodded "Of course, just until you feel you've recovered enough to the point that being around young Ru-" the man stopped himself, looking down at the boy in concern "Can I…?"

Roxas frowned "It's fine, I can hear her name and be okay." In reality, thinking the girl's name, picturing her face, reminiscing over her voice… all these things left a dull pain ringing in his mind. If his mind continued to linger on the girl, picturing her smile, or the way her hair swayed with the bob of her head… the pain would grow larger to a point that Roxas forced himself to think about other things. Regardless of this fact, Roxas's mind continued to return to Ruby from time to time as, despite the persistent protests threatening to tear through his mind, a pleasant warmth in his chest urged him to continue his thoughts.

The pain grew too much for the boy again, and he shook his head, ridding himself of the train of thought.

"Ah, good to hear." Ozpin continued before reaching out and gently knocking on the door. A few seconds passed before the door cracked open, and a familiar face answered.

"Oh!" Naminé's petite form stood at the doorway "H-Hello headmaster!" She turned to Roxas and smiled "It's good to see you on your feet again."

The boy smiled back "It feels good to actually be on my feet for once in a week."

The girl looked back over her shoulder towards the contents of the room before returning her attention towards the two men "We didn't expect you so soon! We're just… um…"

Roxas heard Weiss somewhere behind the door "Just tidying up!" she hollered.

Ozpin raised an eyebrow "I didn't take you two for clutter bugs."

Naminé flushed "Oh no! We're not messy! In fact we're quite clean! It's just that Weiss is-"

"Weiss is done!" The Schnee suddenly appeared beside the girl, a small sweat glistening on her forehead "All done! We're ready for you!" She spoke with a smile as she saw Roxas.

Roxas smiled back "Hey Weiss."

"Hi!" She said brightly.

Ozpin wished the trio farewells as he left, leaving Roxas to be acquainted with his new, _temporary_ living conditions.

Roxas had paused when he first stepped into the room, his eyes blinking as he took in the sight of his new bed. The bedsheets looked new as well as the mattress and bed frame. They didn't look all too different from the beds that belonged to Naminé and Weiss, but he could tell that the wood was well polished with a shiny gleam to it.

He sat down on the bed and was surprised to feel it lightly bounce as it supported his weight, it's softness was not loss on the boy. Roxas examined the soft textures of the blanket between his thumb and index finger before noticing out of the corner of his eye that Weiss and Naminé were smiling at him with eager expressions.

When he looked up, he saw them both quickly look away, busying themself with a book or adjusting their own bedding.

"Is everything okay?" The boy asked confused by their odd behavior.

"Everything is just fine." Weiss noted with a smile "Did you notice the mini fridge?"

Roxas raised an eyebrow as he turned his head and looked about the room, sure enough, he found a small white mini fridge sitting in the corner of the room.

Weiss brought a finger to her lips "Shhh, I had to sneak it in here for us."

Roxas nodded as he pushed himself to his feet and approached the device. He knelt before opening it.

Inside were…

"Are these ice creams?" He asked as he slowly reached in and picked one of the popsicles wrapped in white plastic out of the fridge.

Weiss was leaning over his shoulder now "Yeah, I had some people do a little digging and they found some ice cream fitting the description of what you shared with us on the clock tower. I thought it might be nice if I had some of it imported here." She smiled.

Roxas's expression lit up at this "Really?" He shouted as he undid the wrapping on the popsicle. He stared wide eyed at the blue popsicle in his hand, a smile slowly pulled at his cheeks revealing a toothy grin before he slipped the icy treat between his lips and bit down.

The flavor filling his mouth wasn't an exact match, it was just a little too salty at the start, but the sweet sensation that came just after more than made up for it.

"Do you like it?" She said with an almost worried tone.

Roxas beamed at the girl "It's awesome. I never thought I'd be able to enjoy some sea salt ice cream here of all places."

Weiss's worried expression fell away as a gentle smile formed on her lips "I'm glad to hear they got it right."

Naminé stood by her bedside, examining the scene before her as she held a soft smile on her face. Her gaze wandered to the window where the warm glow of the setting sun was lighting the room.

Her eyes grew wide as she suddenly had a thought.

"We should all go someplace to celebrate!" Naminé suddenly stammered.

Both Weiss and Roxas turned towards her saying in unison "Huh?"

"B-Because you're finally out of bed!" Naminé hastily explained.

Roxas shot the girl a curious look "I mean… I am."

"And wouldn't you like to enjoy your sea-salt ice cream somewhere special?" Naminé said louder than necessary. Her eyes met Weiss's giving her a look that said 'Help me out here!'.

The Schnee stared at the girl with furrowed brows for several seconds before her eyes widened as well.

"Yes!" She abruptly agreed "Why don't we enjoy these ice creams in your spot on the roof?" She turned towards the boy "I remember hearing you say that… you enjoy eating them while sitting on the clock tower with friends…"

Roxas paused, his eyes narrowing. Did he say that? He certainly showed them the clock tower… but he didn't ever explicitly say those words to any one of them. He shrugged, tossing the thought to the back of his mind. Even if he'd never said it, it was more than possible that Weiss was just inferring as much from all the times she'd found him sitting on the roof of the building watching the sun set.

He smiled "That sounds like a great idea."

.

.

.

The trio found themselves sitting atop the school facing out towards the slowly setting sun. It's orange and red hues bathed over the group as they sat with their feet dangling over the edge, each with their own sea salt ice cream tightly gripped between their fingers.

It was quiet between the three of them aside from the periodic sounds of teeth crunching on ice shavings.

Weiss frowned as she heard a message go off from her scroll. Reluctant to ruin the tranquility of the moment, the girl slowly pulled the device from her pocket only to see that it was a message from Naminé. Weiss looked up and stared at the girl just beside her with confusion clearly written on her face before looking back down at the scroll and reading the message.

' _Shoot me a message when you read this.'_

Weiss tilted her head as she read the message, not understanding why Naminé would want her to reply to a message when sitting just beside her. Looking back up at the pale girl, she saw that despite her body language depicting a calm demeanor, her face was tense as her eyes stared straight forward with distinct intensity, as if she was focusing with all her might on something.

Weiss cocked an eyebrow at the girl who still refused to look back at her. Shrugging, the Schnee decided to humor her friend before texting back the word ' _okay'._

Naminé's movement was stiff as she slowly reached inside her pocket and pulled out her scroll. Her eyes scanned over the device for several seconds longer than it would take to read a simple one word message before she released an exaggerated sigh prompting Roxas to turn his head.

"Everything alright?" He asked, his hand loosely holding the leftover popsicle stick between his fingers.

Naminé rolled her eyes as she robotically said "It looks like Yang wants me to help her with an assignment. She didn't read a book for one of the classes and wants to pick my brain since she knows I have." She released another exaggerated sigh before standing up "Sorry, but it looks like I'll have to cut out on our little celebration... but that doesn't mean that you two can't still hang out." She was quick to add.

Weiss felt the need to face palm at her roommate's poor acting and even poorer excuse. School had been on a hiatus for the past week, there were no assignments to be done for _any_ of the classes. Despite her poor attempt at a lie, Weiss understood what her roommate was trying to accomplish: She was trying to get her and Roxas _alone_. She turned to gauge Roxas's reaction.

The boy frowned looking up at Naminé "Oh, that sucks. Well, I'll see ya later then."

The thin girl smiled and waved before turning and quickly making her way towards the roof door. The metal door clanged as it shut behind her.

The two fell into silence for several seconds as they returned to watching the sunset. Weiss became increasingly aware of how close Roxas was to her as time pushed forward. Their thighs were only inches apart. If she wanted to, she could very easily lean over and rest her head on his shoulder. _Hell,_ if she really wanted to, she could turn her head and plant a-

"I thought there was no homework since we were taking a small break from school after the breach. How does Yang have a book assignment due?"

Weiss paused blinking rapidly as she was pulled out of her thoughts by the abrupt comment. Her mind raced to figure out a way to corroborate Naminé's poorly constructed excuse.

"Well, maybe Yang fell behind on some homework before the break and is just now getting back around to it."

Roxas paused, adopting a thinking expression as he considered the idea, then he grinned "Yeah, I can see that. Yang sometimes does forget things…" He frowned "But wait, why would she call up Naminé? Wouldn't it make more sense if she asked for one of her teammates to help her? I'm sure Blake would be able to assist considering how she and Naminé rival each other in how many books they read."

 _Another excellent point_

Weiss thought in a panic as she struggled to come up for a reason to counter Roxas's point.

"Maybe the rest of team Rainbow is busy right now?" She bit her lip, waiting to see if her excuse held up to Roxas's inquisitive nature.

His gaze pulled away from the sight of the dipping sun setting the sky ablaze as he thought about her answer. Eventually, he bore a faint smile before nodding "Yeah, I guess that makes sense."

Weiss breathed a quiet sigh of relief before feeling a buzzing in her pocket once more. Pulling the scroll out, she saw a message from the girl herself saying:

' _I got you the chance you wanted! Take it!'_

Weiss felt her face blush a bright red before quickly shoving her scroll back in her pocket. Her hands wiped at her corset suddenly feeling far more sweaty than usual. The continued silence between the two only made the rapid thumping in her chest louder as she desperately tried to find the right words to say.

 _Hey Roxas, so I thought this would be a good time to-_

 _ **No that sounds too informal!**_

 _Roxas, for the longest time I've been wanting to reveal my feelings for you!_

 _ **Way too dramatic! You don't want to scare him away do you!?**_

 _Roxas...do you have feelings for me?_

 _ **Way to put him on the spot!**_

There was a sudden buzzing, but this time, it wasn't coming from Weiss.

"Huh," Roxas mumbled to himself as he looked down at his scroll "Naminé sent me a picture of one of those fliers that have been put up all around the school…Something about a school dance?" He paused as the scroll buzzed for a second time in his hand, his brow furrowed "She asked me 'who are _you_ taking?'..." He stared at the screen for several seconds before looking up at Weiss with confusion "Wait, am I supposed to take someone to one of these?"

Weiss's eyes were wide with excitement as she met Roxas's eye.

 _Naminé you wonderful person! If this works I am taking you out to dinner, shopping, movies and whatever else you want to do!_

Weiss cleared her throat before nodding "Well, yeah, typically for school dances, you ask someone to come as your date."

Roxas's eyes went wide before holding a hand to the side of his head "I had no idea! Who am I going to ask? I haven't the slightest clue about how to ask someone as a date!"

"Well," Weiss began, her cheeks taking on a feint pink hue "If you'd like, I wouldn't mind going as your date."

Roxas froze before a bright toothy smile spread across his face "Seriously?"

Weiss nodded quickly "Absolutely! I'd be delighted to be your date to the dance."

Roxas breathed a sigh of relief "That's good, I don't know what I would have done if I had to figure out who to ask to the dance…" he suddenly paused "Speaking of which, what happens at a dance? Do you just… dance?" Roxas was familiar with the concept, but having never needed to dance, the boy had little to no experience in the matter. What more, he had little knowledge of what a 'date' entailed. He knew it could be referenced when indicating a specific day of the year, as well as when scheduling an event with friends… but somehow this context fit neither.

He noted that the girl beside him seemed visibly happier now that he'd accepted her offer. He didn't exactly know why. Maybe it was because like him, she hadn't known who to take to the dance either. He'd only known for a matter of seconds the pressures of finding someone to take to the dance and had already felt the panic set in. He could only imagine how it felt to hold that feelings internally for days or even weeks.

His breathed a sigh of relief knowing that he no longer had that worry. He watched Weiss out of the corner of his eye before he felt something… _off._ Like a flicker of doubt, or like he was making the wrong call. It reminded him of the times in battle when he knew he'd parried too slow, or made the wrong movement and was about to take a hit because of it. He felt a warmth in his chest as he was reminded once more of his raven haired teammate most likely back in his previous dorm room. He pictured her silver eyes, her swaying red and black hair, her pale fair skin... before a slow dull pain began to ache just behind his irises.

The teen closed his eyes, slowly freeing his mind of the image. He reminded himself of how his doctor had told him that _preventing_ those headaches would lead to his swiftest recovery, and with his powers on the line, he was inclined to listen.

"You okay?" Voiced a concerned sounding Weiss.

Roxas smiled as he opened his eyes to look back at her "Just fine."

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_ _My apologies for how long it took me to release this chapter! I hit a rough spot midway and couldn't figure out the right order of scenes to reach where I wanted to end the chapter. I actually wrote out two other scenes that didn't lead to where I needed it to, then I scrapped both and finally wrote out what entered the chapter. Later in the chapter I reached a point where one of the previous iterations of the scene would have worked perfectly to push towards the next scene, and thanks to Google doc's saving past versions of a word doc! I was able to recover it and modify it to fit the next scene! It felt like I was plagiarizing myself by copying and pasting a scene in despite the fact I had already wrote it XD. Bonus points to whoever figures out which scene it is that was initially cut and then eventually made itself back in!_

 _I imagine there will be those of you who will have things to say in regards to what happened in this chapter. I assure you that I have a method to my madness and everything has been planned out for this 'arc' of the story. This is not me flip flopping due to reviews, so please don't worry about the story being taken over by reader's preferences! I don't know how long it'll take me to write out the next chapter. I know what I plan to do and many of the scenes that it will be composed of are already fully fleshed out, but I still need find the proper way to execute it all, so it may be a week or two before I get around to it XD._

 _Now unfortunately due to differing opinions and a poor work ethic on their end I was forced to find another beta for the story in place of Kitty :(. Thankfully! I was able to find a new Beta in a relatively short amount of time by the name of Shiloh Aldwin! So please say hi!... lol Jk Kitty just changed their ff name to Shiloh XD. Sorry Shiloh if you see this! Speaking of which, time to throw the mic to our faithful beta reader and editor! Take it away Shiloh!_

 _ **Shiloh Aldwin(Kitty):**_ _Hello my fellow readers! I hope things have been good with all of you since the last we've talked. I hope this chapter has been satisfying to your needs in regards to spelling, grammar...and most of all plot holes! I hope to hear on what you think on the quality of this chapter. I also would like to hear what you think of RoxaShadow's new writing technique from the peculiar scene with Ruby._

 _Just between reader to reader, be sure to let RoxaShadow know how awesome he is and that you really do appreciate all that he does for us ;D_

 _But anyway, let us know if there's anything we need to improve on or if there is something that we missed! See you all in the next chapter! :D_

 _Gimme that mic back! Now as always all reviews will be answered via PM so make sure that you have an account so that I can answer you!_

 _Until Next time!_


	34. Chapter 34: The Broken Promise

_I wonder if that'll ever go away…_

Roxas quietly pondered to himself as he ran an index finger along a long pink strip of scar tissue running just beneath his chin and peeking out below the corner of his lip. A second scar ran above his right eye where a lucky Ursa had managed to clip him, drawing blood and partially blinding him during the breach of Vale.

The teen closed the bathroom door and had his shirt off as he stood in front of the mirror. His eyes slowly ran up and down his torso evaluating the plethora of cuts and gashes he'd accumulated that night. He winced as his eyes paused on a large gash in the center of his chest. That had been from when a particularly determined Boarbatusk managed to slip through his defenses and drive its tusk directly into Roxas's chest. The teen had responded in turn, raking both the Oblivion and Oathkeeper through the Grimm's tough hide, breaking it and dividing the creature in two.

After a few more minutes of reflection, Roxas released a sigh before reaching out and grabbing a dark black long sleeve shirt he'd previously set on the counter. After finally getting the last of the bandages off, the boy had taken to wearing thin black long sleeves beneath his typical school attire as a means to deter stares. Before this practice he'd get too many looks from the students catching glimpses of the scars marking his forearms. He'd been told they made him look cool, that they were badges of honor! Despite this fact, Roxas didn't like the stares like he was something to be marveled.

He just wanted to be a normal kid.

He felt something digging in his collar bone before reaching in and pulling out the small necklace he'd taken to wearing as of late. It's resemblance to the Oathkeeper was uncanny as he paused to study the key in his hand. Roxas's eyes glazed over as he studied the key between his index and thumb fingers. It had been several days since he'd awoken from his prolonged slumber only to find his old journal resting on the bedside. When he'd first seen it he almost had a panic attack. A flood of questions filled the boy's mind: How did it get here? Who had it? Who read it? Why was it here?

At first, Roxas had assumed it was a present from someone within the Organization sent to unnerve him, a message to him that he was still on their radar after all this time. This realization had initially sent waves of crushing fear rippling through Roxas's mind as he began to piece together the implications of such a revelation. Roxas's magic, his light, all of his powers were gone. No matter how hard he tried, Roxas was never able to muster anything even remotely out of the ordinary, often times spending hours on end seemingly doing nothing as a cold sweat formed around his body due to sheer concentration.

With his powers gone, Roxas knew that he would likely be easy pickings for the Organization if they were to send one of their remaining members after him now. Even as he stood in front of the mirror gazing at the key in his hand, he could still feel the sensation of helplessness overtaking him. It was a feeling of vulnerability that the teen had never felt before. He'd always been strong, strong enough to take on nearly anything. Sure he had his close calls every now and again, but his strength, his light, his magic, these were things that the boy relied on, and to have them all be stripped away so suddenly…

Roxas watched as the key between his fingertips began to shake as his entire hand started to tremble. The boy stuffed the necklace beneath his shirt once more before letting his hand fall to his side.

The teen had soon realized it was unlikely that the one who'd placed the journal on his nightstand was indeed a part of Organization XIII due to one and one fact alone.

The key hanging around his neck.

Whoever returned the journal to him had crafted an immaculately designed key and lock to keep the contents of the book safe. This gesture was not one he could see a member of the Organization doing as he couldn't see what purpose it would serve. Roxas recognized that the key and lock had been a gesture of kindness, but a kindness from _who_ was still a question he had no answer for. When he'd entered his old room during his last experience at the Castle That Never Was with Weiss and Yang, he found that the journal was already gone. So whoever had returned the journal to him had gotten hold of it sometime between his vacancy of the castle and his return.

The teen shook his head; where that left him in terms of suspects he had no clue. As far as he was aware, the person who returned it to him could be an absolute stranger.

Roxas sighed as he let his mind drop the subject. He'd thought over the mystery deliverer several times with no _clue_ as to who could have been the one to return it to him, and what's more, how did they know the details of his Oathkeeper so well?

He blinked as the Keyblade returned to his thoughts. Reaching out, he clasped his eyes closed as he focused furiously on summoning the Keyblade to his aid. Several moments passed before Roxas let his arm fall to his side having produced nothing. He reached out, uttering a few spells futilely, not believing that he'd actually get any affects out of them, but thinking he should check anyway just in case.

He wondered if this was how some of his other friends sometimes felt. He'd never really gave it any thought until now. Ruby, Jaune, Ren, even Yang, none of his friends had powers like his.

 **None** of them had ever been able to obliterate a sea of Grimm in a bright burst of light. **None** of them could heal a wound in an instant with a simple _cure_ spell.

The more he thought about it, he began to realize that now, without all of his special abilities, he was just like them. If someone or _something_ were to break down the bathroom door in that very instant, Roxas realized that the only things he'd be able to rely on were his _swordplay_ , and his _wit_.

 _And that terrified him._

Roxas knew he was no slouch with his Keyblades. Hell at times he'd even choose not to use his other abilities because he knew that he wouldn't need them for the opponent he was facing. He would see a wild Beowulf or a rampaging Ursa and know that he could easily cut it down with a swift slash of his Oblivion and Oathkeeper, in fact, at times he would only summon one as the threat didn't permit the other.

Despite the fact that Roxas was used to fighting without his other abilities, his light, his magic - it was still _there_ if the boy needed it. If he mistimed a jump or placed a strike poorly with one of his Keyblades and was struck by a massive swipe of a claw or a Beowulf's jaws wrapped around his arm, Roxas knew he had his magic to fall back on.

In a way, it was his safety net if something went wrong.

If a Beowulf sunk his teeth into the teen's arm, Roxas had known he could just obliterate the Grimm with a blast of white light before repairing the damage with a cure spell.

But now? That safety net was gone.

 _If I mess up now… if I misplace a swing or mistime my parry… there's nothing to fall back on._

Roxas couldn't understand how the others did it on a regular basis. How did Yang go out onto a battlefield against hundreds of Grimm with only her shot gauntlets and an aura that _depended_ on her to get injured to get any use out of it? To Roxas, it felt like going out onto the battlefield almost naked.

A look of shame suddenly spread across Roxas's features for thinking this way. To compare Yang's talents to going out on the battlefield naked did a disservice to his friend. She was a proud, strong, brave fighter who stormed into the fight despite not having the abilities that he was so used to having. As the boy stood there staring into the mirror ahead, he began to question if maybe Yang was even braver than him for fighting without powers like his own. She didn't need them, so why should he?

 _Because what am I without them?_

Roxas's eyes drew downward to where the Oblivion was leaning up against the drawers of the countertop. Ever since he summoned the weapon to his side the boy had been too afraid to let it disappear again less he not be strong enough to summon it back to him when he most need it. Seemingly only serving to reassure this fear, no matter how much time or focus Roxas sunk into trying to summon the Oathkeeper back to his aid, he found that he couldn't. The ability was lost to him, making this lone Keyblade, the Oblivion, the only remnant of what the boy had once been able to do.

 _You're my first, last, and only line of defense._

Roxas thought as he reached down and picked up the weapon before raising it out in front of him.

Once again he felt his hand begin to tremble as he stared at the deep and detailed engravings on the blade.

"Please." He begged to the weapon, "I need you. I don't know what I'll do if I lose you too." He felt his voice grow shaky before continuing "Don't leave me Keyblade."

There was an abrupt knocking on the door as Namine's voice rang out "Um, not to be rude or anything…but other people need to use the bathroom too you know…"

Roxas's eyes grew wide with embarrassment before calling back "Oh, uh, sorry! I'll be out in just a sec!"

The boy turned and unlocked the door before swiftly opening it in the same motion. Namine's eyes locked to his as he paused in at the threshold of the doorframe.

"Uh, sorry about that. I, uh, sometimes take a long time to dry off after a shower." Roxas rambled scratching the back of his head awkwardly, a sheepish smile tugged at the corners of the teen's cheeks.

Namine's face was serious as she studied the boy, meeting his blue eyes with her own.

Roxas's smile slowly fell as the two continued to stare at each other Namine's lips slowly pulled into a feint frown.

"Any luck?"

Roxas paused, briefly stunned that she knew what he had been contemplating in the bathroom before releasing a sigh and looking towards the ground "No, none at all." He forced a sheepish smile "It's beginning to look like the Roxas that doesn't have any of his crazy powers is the Roxas that everyone is going to have to get used to, huh?"

The teen had decided to tell his friends of his absence of powers soon after speaking to Ozpin on the matter. He figured that they would find out sooner or later, so there was no point in hiding it. Ozpin had instructed him and the others to keep this fact relatively secret from the rest of the school to avoid rumors of Roxas's weakness spreading. With people seemingly wanting the boy out of the picture, it wouldn't help if they found out he was even weaker than the last time they tried to ambush him.

Namine gave him a pitying look "You know that we don't think any less of you for that, right?" She formed a sympathetic smile as her hand reached out and rested on the boy's shoulder "You're still one hell of a fighter even without your other powers. I doubt that we could find a single first year who can hold a candle to you in a fight. And most importantly," she paused, giving him a deep, reassuring smile "You're our friend. We care about you no matter how strong you are. Your magic and light stuff were never the reason we liked you. _You_ are the reason we like you. We care about Roxas, not Roxas's _powers_."

Roxas tried to form a smile as he recognized that what she said should have cheered him up, but the fact the she'd decided to specify _first year_ only made the boy feel worse, reminding him of just how low he'd fallen "Thanks Namine, that means a lot."

The teen turned before beginning to step away from the girl.

Namine watched him with a deep frown.

* * *

 ** **-The next day: Lunch Hall-****

" **What!?** " Yang's voice boomed as she immediately rose to her feet, leaning over her food with fire in her eyes as she stared down Nora who recoiled in response mumbling "Don't kill the messenger," as she did so.

Students from other tables turned their heads to look at the girl as she spoke with malice laced in her words "I can't believe this! This is such total bull-"

"Yang!" Blake said in a loud whisper "Sit down! Other tables are looking."

Yang's gaze snapped to Blake "I don't give a rat's ass! That's complete crap and-"

The blonde suddenly froze as she felt a light tugging from her left sleeve. The girl paused mid rant as she turned her head and saw Ruby with one hand tugging on her shirt and the other slowly raising a small biscuit to her lips.

"Sit down Yang. Don't make a scene."

The fire in Yang's eyes slowly dissipated before she lowered herself back to her seat, her gaze didn't pull away from her younger sister.

Ruby's eyelids were half shut as she focused her attention on her tray. Her words were quiet and her movements were sluggish as she slowly brought the piece of bread to her mouth and took the smallest of bites.

"B-but…" Yang began "I'm… how… I thought you would…?" Yang's expression read lost as she continued to study her sister with confusion written on her features.

Ruby's voice was monotone as she responded, the expression gone from her face as she said "Why should I care who Roxas goes to the dance with? It's his choice after all. Doesn't affect me one way or another."

Yang and Ruby were sitting with the rest of team Rainbow while the other members of team Purger sat with Roxas at another table along with Weiss and Namine. The two teams had formed a silent agreement that for the time being, until Roxas got better, they'd sit separately so that neither Ruby nor Roxas would feel alone at lunch. They alternated sometimes letting Ruby sit with Purger and Roxas sit with Rainbow, but typically Weiss and Namine would follow to the table that Roxas sat at.

The rest of team RNBY stared at the girl with semi-surprised expressions. While it had never been outright said, there had been a general understanding throughout the group that Ruby had feelings for Roxas… had they somehow misinterpreted something?

Ruby slowly lowered the remaining portion of the bread to the tray before rising from her seat "I think I'm done eating. I'm not very hungry right now."

"W-wait, but! We should- you should-" Yang stumbled over her words as Ruby stepped away from her seat carrying her tray with both hands.

Ignoring her sister, Ruby moved down the isle slowly, her head low as her feet gradually carried her forward. She heard feet rise from the table behind her before a hastened series of steps came up towards her rear. A hand shot out, grabbing her elbow and stopping her.

Yang's voice spoke up "We need to tell him Ruby. Tell him about you two and about the kiss." She spoke in a whisper, not wanting to spill her sister's privacy.

Ruby let out a shaky, defeated sigh "And what good would that do?"

Yang's voice rose in frustration "It would stop him from going with Weiss!"

"And then what!?" Ruby snapped as she turned back towards her sister, tearing her arm out of Yang's fingers "If we told him that, then he would just spend all his time thinking about it. About us, about _me._ " She paused as her voice slowly returned to a quiet whisper "It would cause him incredible pain, Yang. He would think about it day and night trying to remember something so important. He would probably break down like he did before, and maybe suffer even more damage than last time...I…" Her voice grew shaky, and for a brief second, Yang could see the hurt in her sisters eyes before Ruby's face gew stiff and emotionless "I don't want to cause him any more pain than I already have Yang."

Yang's jaw fell slack and her eyebrows turned inward "Then…what can we do?" Her voice was sad, her eyes beginning to glisten as she stared at her little sister.

Ruby's gaze fell away from Yang as she slowly began to turn her back to the girl "Face it Yang. There's nothing that we can do, nothing we can say that won't cause him even more pain." Her feet began to carry her towards the exit doors as she said "The less he thinks about me, the better."

* * *

Meanwhile, several tables away, Roxas had his face buried in his hands as Pyrrha sat beside him. She had her scroll positioned horizontally in front of the boy as a video played

"Swim this way, we'll dance and we'll play now its _very_ easy, come on _in_ just take a chance and shake a fin _!"_

Laughter erupted from the table as Roxas groaned in embarrassment. His voice continued to play from the scroll.

"Oh!" Pyrrha grinned ear to ear as she said "And this is the part where you thought you were a bird for a while!" The screen pulled up a video of Roxas standing on top of his bed flapping his arms vigorously in an attempt to achieve lift off. Both Weiss and Namine were leaning over the boy's shoulder, smiles pulling at the corners of their lips as they continued to watch the video.

The embarrassed teen prepared to cover his face once more as the video shifted when he noticed movement from a few tables away. His brows furrowed as his eyes narrowed on what appeared to be the form of Ruby turning her back to Yang.

Roxas felt a sharp pain in the side of his temple, but the way Yang's eyes were following her younger sister made him persist. Something in the sadness of the girl's expression, the way her shoulders were slumped, her mouth slightly agape as if wanting to say something, but not knowing what should be said.

 _Something is wrong._

The teen rose to his feet as his head turned back towards Ruby whose hand was pushing against the door's frame now.

"Hmm?" He heard Weiss's voice next to him "Is something wrong?"

Roxas briefly looked down at the girl, the moment his eyes met with hers, the pain in the back of his mind began to retreat, withdrawing into whatever darkness it had emerged from.

"I-" Roxas paused as he looked back up, staring at where the door had just swung open before the girl in red disappeared through.

"I-" Roxas stammered as he began to sidestep around the table, his gaze refusing to draw away from the now closing door. Now drawing eyes from the rest of team Purger he said "I have to do something. I'll be right back."

As he made long,deliberate strides towards the front doors the teen found himself growing frustrated at just how slow he felt he was moving. Each step reminded him of the fact that Ruby was getting further and further away. The thought left a simmering pain that spread as it engulfed his mind, but instead of retreat as he so often did, he pushed forward, deciding that this was more important that _pain_ right now.

A tight scowl tightened around the boy's features as he reached the halfway point of the room still approaching the door. The thought of just how far Ruby could be from the doors left Roxas in a panic as he soon found himself in a flat sprint towards the doors. Out of the corner of his eye he could see students turning to look at him, but that was hardly consequential to the boy as he reached the set of double doors in a matter of seconds.

 _Finally!_

He mentally exclaimed as he pushed the doors open and rushed out into the courtyard. The teen's head snapped back and forth as he scanned the open school grounds for the back of a familiar black short cut hairstyle.

After a moment, his eyes locked onto a figure that sent shockwaves of pain through his system.

A stubborn grin pulled at the corners of his mouth as he thought to himself ' _Thanks headache, wouldn't have found her without ya'_ before he felt his feet begin to carry him towards the girl at blazing speeds. Although the boy's powers were gone, that didn't mean that the muscles he built during his many, MANY missions weren't still in tact.

This fact briefly crossed Roxas's mind as he closed the distance between he and Ruby in a matter of seconds. It wasn't until he was a mere foot away from the girl that he realized he didn't have a clue as to what he was going to say to her. He didn't even know why he was chasing after her in the first place. He'd seen Yang sad, or, he'd thought he'd seen Yang sad for a moment.

 _Could I have misinterpreted something? Maybe I misread her expression?_

Regardless, even if he was right, how was that any of his business? Roxas realized that it was common for siblings to fight every now and again, but that didn't mean they wouldn't make up on their own terms. If they were fighting, Roxas realized that he should probably have no part in it.

The boy's eyes were squinting as the dull pain spreading from the back of his head to the front began to magnify, clouding his vision around its borders.

His hand reached out to touch the girl's shoulder, but just as his index finger graced her shoulder ever so slightly, he paused.

 _Why am I doing this?_

He thought in the midst of a sea of pain pushing at the back of his eyes.

His gaze fell away, his vision adjusting from the back of her head to the grass beneath their feet. His head was spinning as he realized he was dangerously close to falling over. He tipped to the left some before adjusting his feet back underneath him, all the while his head screamed at him to move away.

"Roxas?"

The teen's eyes, previously half-closed and clouded, snapped open at the call of his name as he looked up and was met with a familiar set of silver pupils staring back at him. Her mouth was slightly agape, her eyes wide with shock and surprise

"What are you doing? You shouldn't be around me," she sharply exclaimed turning her back away from the boy as her feet began to carry her away. Ruby got a few feet away before feeling a hand wrap around her wrist, causing her to pause.

"W-wait, p-please-" The boy stammered as he tried desperately to find a moment of clarity within a sea of flames pressing against the walls within his skull.

Roxas watched as the girl slowly turned her head back towards him. Her eyebrows were furrowed as he could see the distinct frown of concern resting on her lips.

"I- I need to…?" Roxas paused once more as another ripple of pain washed over his senses forcing a hand to the side of his face.

 _Just what_ _ **am**_ _I doing here?_

Roxas felt the tug on against his grip as her quiet voice sounded out "Roxas, let go, you're hurting yourself!" The concern was clear in her tone as she struggled to pry Roxas's hand away.

"I-I-" The boy struggled to form a sentence while simultaneously attempting to figure out what that sentence would be if he ever managed to actually get it out.

Finally, the pain overcame him as his knees buckled sending the teen to his knees as his grip on the girl's wrist was released.

His head slouched as his vision slowly began to fade, his eyes took in the sight of the grass beneath his feet before almost immediately the pain in his head dissipated. Roxas's eyes snapped open wide with clarity as he looked up, the question he wanted to ask finally clear in his mind as he began.

"Ruby, I wanted to know if-" The teen's words trailed off. Instead of staring at the typically cheery, smiling face of Ruby, all he was met with was a long trail of slow falling rose petals that disappeared around a corner.

"...if you're okay…" Roxas murmured the question to himself. A frown rested on his lips as he rose to his feet.

His eyes lingered on the slowly falling rose petals for almost half a minute be eventually turning back towards the lunch room.

* * *

 **-Team Purger Dorm Room-**

Jaune had his arms resting beneath his head as he laid still on his bed. His eyes scanned the ceiling as he took in one long deep breath before releasing an equally long sigh.

 _She said no… I was honest. I was truthful… I let her see my true feelings… and she said no…_

Pools of blue clouded by sadness rested in Jaune's eyes as he rolled over onto his side. His gaze shifted to the wall, his eyes open, but misty, unfocused, his attention elsewhere as he absently studied the designs of the wallpaper.

It had felt like he'd reached deep within himself, pulled out his heart and presented it to her. And she reached out, acknowledged it, saw it for all it was…

And said _no_.

 _She took it. I felt her take it… and then she put it back. She was delicate, as delicate as she could be… but the heart is a fragile thing. And when she put it back, not knowing it as well as I do… she put it back wrong, and now I feel empty because of it._

Jaune wished he'd never listened to Pyrrha. Never gone out in the middle of that gymnasium and told her how he felt. He wished that he could somehow take that knowledge back. At least when he kept it to himself, it was _his_. When it was only with him, it made it so much easier to step away from the feeling, like the feeling was just an idea before he said it aloud to her. Now, the knowledge was _hers_ and it was no longer private. It was more than just his now, it was _hers_ and he didn't know how to handle that fact.

Jaune shook his head as he pushed the line of thought to the back of his mind.

 _I'm being silly. It's not like the feelings would have gone away if I hadn't told her. I needed to tell her so that I could finally know for certain how she felt._

Despite thinking this to himself, at the same time, he couldn't help but believe if he'd somehow found out that she wouldn't return his feelings before the exchange, before he put himself on the line, that maybe he would be handling things better. If he hadn't vocalized his feelings to her, and had learned of this earlier…maybe it wouldn't have hurt so much?

Jaune's eyes snapped open as he heard the door to the dorm open. Lifting his head, he saw the petite form of Ruby, her head low and her eyes unwilling to meet anyone's gaze as her legs swiftly carried her to her bed. A moment later the girl had buried her face into her pillow.

Jaune raised an eyebrow at his teammate's actions. He paused, his gaze lowering in thought before the boy rose to his feet and began to make his way over to Ruby's bedside.

As his feet carried him, echoing throughout his mind were the words:

 _I'm the leader of this team and as such I should check on the moral of my teammates regardless of how I'm doing._

He paused as he began to reach down to place a hand on the girl's shoulder. Her face buried, her body stiff, he knew that for something to be affecting _Ruby_ of all people like this, it had to be serious.

A feint smile tugged at the corners of the teen's lips as he thought:

 _Hey, at the very least, maybe helping someone else out with their problems will take my mind off my own._

Jaune let his hand fall, feeling Ruby tense up as his fingertips met with the girl's shoulder.

Her head shifted so that her silver eyes met with his blue. As she looked up at him, he saw a wetness to them, an agitation of red around the irises and realized all too abruptly that the girl had been _crying_.

Jaune's eyes widened, he hadn't been expecting this "I-uh," he paused, recollecting himself "I wanted to make sure you were okay." He did his best to emulate a reassuring smile. He figured he succeeded from the smile the girl shot back at him. Ruby sat up, wiping her nose before sitting at the edge of the bed. Jaune figured that was an indication that he should sit beside her.

"So," he began as he sat down "What's eating ya?"

"It's…" The girl paused, her cheeks flush "It's nothing. It's silly."

Jaune shook his head "Well if it's silly, then it shouldn't be too big of a deal to tell me, right?"

Ruby's mouth opened to retort, then she paused giving the comment some thought before smiling "I guess you have a point, huh?"

Jaune nodded.

Ruby took a deep breath before saying "The person I wanted to go to the dance with…is going with someone else."

Jaune blinked rapidly in response to this revelation before a bellowing laughter echoed out from his lips. The bout of laughter was short, but when he returned his attention to the girl beside him he saw Ruby with a hurt expression looking the other way.

"Oh!" he stammered out "I'm sorry! I wasn't laughing at you! It's just that…" He paused, the smile slowly fading from his features "It's just that I found it funny that I came over here to take my mind off of my own problem only to find out that you're having the same issue."

Ruby's expression shifted from hurt to surprised "Wait," she began "The person you want to go to the dance with is going with someone else too?"

Jaune shrugged "Presumably, that's what they told me at least." He paused in thought "Honestly, all I know is that they have feelings for someone else. I don't even know who it is honestly."

"Oh." Ruby paused, looking down "I'm sorry to hear that."

The boy shrugged "I mean, it's just the way it is right?" he said attempting to appear stronger than he actually felt at the moment. He didn't want to talk about his feelings.

Ruby slowly nodded "...I guess."

"So," a grin split Jaune's features "Who got to Roxas before you could?"

Ruby's face flushed "...that obvious who it is, huh?"

Jaune let loose a light chuckle "I had a hunch. The two of you are so awkward together I figured something might be going on…" he paused before a frown crossed his features "But wait…you said he's going with someone else? Who else could he be going with? Did Coco get to him before you? I swear, that guy is such a dunce about social cues sometimes he-"

"It wasn't Coco…" Ruby interrupted, her arms crossing beneath her chest "It was Weiss."

"...what?" was the only word Jaune could utter after the name struck his eardrums. Had he heard the girl wrong? No, she had definitely said Weiss. Why would _Weiss_ want to go out with Roxas? She'd never shown any interest towards the boy…had she? Jaune blinked rapidly as his mind accelerated through all the times he'd seen the two interact. How could he miss something so crucial? The signs had to have been there before hand. There had to have been hints that he somehow missed. But _how_ had he missed them?

 _Did…did I just not want to see them?_

As he reflected on their interactions he realized that he did see _something_ there, although far feinter in his eyes. She did seem to enjoy being around the boy often. More often than not Jaune would find Weiss hanging out with Roxas and Namine. He remembered at times where she'd stand just a little too close to the boy. Her eyes lingering on him longer than necessary after a conversation between the two of them.

Jaune's eyes widened in realization as the last time he'd spoken Weiss, the final sentence she'd said to him before he'd turned away replayed in his mind.

" _There's… someone else… I want to go to the dance with._ "

Jaune's mouth felt dry as he connected that line to what Ruby had just revealed to him.

 _Weiss turned me down…for Roxas?_

Jaune felt like he'd just been slapped in the face. Like he'd just been betrayed by someone who didn't even know they were doing it. Roxas had kicked him to the curb within the confines of Weiss's mind without even trying to. Roxas was his teammate, his friend, and yet somehow, someway the boy had managed to stab Jaune in the back in a way he could have never predicted.

 _But he's your friend, your ally. You know how clueless Roxas is. I doubt he even knew he was doing it. He would never purposely try and hurt you…_

 _right?_

Jaune shook his head, ridding his mind of the thought. Of course Roxas wasn't trying to hurt him. If Weiss asked him out he was lucky to accept. Jaune couldn't blame the boy for accepting an offer to be a date for _Weiss_ of all people. Besides, it was just a _dance_ after all.

"...Jaune? You okay there?" Ruby asked gently pushing against his elbow.

The boy's head turned meeting Ruby's eyes once more.

"Uh, yeah, I'm okay. Just surprised to hear that is all. I'm sorry that happened."

Ruby nodded, a sad frown resting on her lips "Yeah… I am too."

Jaune's eyes lingered on the girl for a long time taking in her slouched shoulders, her averted gaze and overall defeated demeanor.

A smile crossed his lips as a thought formed in his mind "You know what?"

The girl lifted her head, meeting his gaze.

"I think I have an idea."

* * *

 **-Beacon Academy: Library-**

"So… what is it that you wanted to talk about?" Yang's voice cut through the air like a knife through butter, splitting the silence in two as she sat across from her younger sister. Ruby called her to the library shortly after her departure from lunch, telling the blonde that she had something to discuss with her. The two had found a remote table in the corner of the large room of books. It was quiet and far away from any other student who might happen to be pursuing knowledge a day away from the dance, which was effectively no one as all the students were busy with last minute preparations towards making themselves look as good as possible for tomorrow.

"Um," Ruby shifted uncomfortably in her seat, her arms crossed as she struggled to find the words for her next sentence. Her tone was still monotone, lifeless, but Yang could tell that despite this forced apathy her little sister was trying to present, whatever she was trying to discuss was difficult to talk about "I had a…realization a little while ago that I kept to myself…because I didn't want to worry you…"

Yang shifted in her chair, her eyebrows furrowed as she studied her awkward little sister "What...do you mean? Is this about Roxas?"

"No, I mean yes, I mean!" Ruby sighed "Not in the way that you think." Her expression grew serious "I know you're expecting me to say something like 'I think I figured out a way to help him!' or 'I need to tell him about that night! I need him to know!'..." The girl paused, her gaze staring out at nothing just after the words left her lips. The tone in Ruby's voice had been laced with mockery towards the suggestions, but the look in the girl's eyes and the way her voice trailed off led Yang to believe that perhaps her words betrayed how she actually felt on the matter.

"...Okay…" Yang began "Then what is this about?"

Ruby met her sister's eye before sighing and finally saying "Do you remember what I told you about that night at the river side? About the fight and how Penny arrived just in time?"

Yang raised an eyebrow "Yes…? I remember. She arrived at just the right time to help you fight that Demyx guy, right?"

Ruby appeared to pause, chewing the inside of her cheek before saying "What if I told you…I don't think she did make it in time?"

Yang's eyebrows furrowed as she stared at her little sister in confusion "I'm…what do you mean?"

Ruby's expression stiffened as she continued "There's a part of the story that I left out because I didn't think it mattered at first. It didn't make sense to me when it happened, and so much was going on around me that I didn't have time to really think about it in the moment…but with all that's happened with Roxas I started to reflect a little bit."

Yang adjusted herself in her seat as she tilted her head "And what's that?"

Ruby paused, Yang watched curiously as the girl raised a hand and held it over the center of her chest "I was fighting Roman, Demyx, and this short girl who I don't think I ever got the name of. I just managed to knock Roman out of the fight when the girl caught me by surprise and took me to the ground. I remember those moments clearly. She pushed her foot into my chest, keeping me pinned to the ground as the tips of my fingers brushed against my Crescent Rose only an inch too far away." Ruby's voice grew shaky as she continued to tell the story "I remember hearing the sound of a blade sliding out of its sheath. I looked up to see that the girl had pulled a small sword out of what had been an umbrella before." Ruby paused taking a deep, shaky breath before continuing "I remember feeling my heart beating rapidly as I watched her raise the blade above her head aiming down at me. I remember thinking 'Is this it? Is this the way I die?'..." The girl paused to meet Yang's gaze. Ruby saw that her sister looked horrified.

Ruby tried to laugh to lighten the mood "Hey! Relax! I made it out didn't I?"

Yang nodded as she swallowed "Right…of course. Just…you paint quite a picture is all haha… is that it? Did Roxas or Penny get to you at the last second or something?"

Ruby shrugged "I thought so at first. I remember seeing her blade thrust down towards me and then, everything went white and I blacked out…or so I thought."

Yang raised an eyebrow.

"When I came to, Roxas was crumpled in a heap beside me...unconscious, but still alive. The girl who'd been standing over me with the blade was out cold, and soon after that Penny arrived, and the story went on like I told you."

Yang nodded "So…what's the point to all this?"

"The part I left out was…that there was blood all over my corset Yang. I could feel it all over my chest when I got back up. I even saw the girl's weapon coated in red lying in the grass a few feet away from me. But when I checked myself over, I couldn't find a wound."

Yang's expression shifted from confusion to concern "What are you saying? Do you think it was Roxas's blood or something?"

Ruby shook her head "No, if he'd lost that much on top of how much he'd already lost at the start of the fight I don't think he would have made it…I think that she got me Yang. I think that blade pierced my chest and somehow, Roxas managed to reach me in time to save me with his magic."

Yang blinked twice before responding "But, but none of Roxas's abilities have worked since the breach I thought."

"Exactly." Ruby pointed a finger at her sister "Not only that, but when he tried to use his abilities back then, he would get a massive headache just like how he does…"

"...! Whenever he sees you." Yangs eyes grew wide as she began to put together the pieces her little sister was presenting to her.

Ruby nodded "Exactly. Now however, whenever he tries he gets absolutely no response. Nothing at all…or so I've heard." The girl looked to Yang for confirmation

Yang nodded in response "So what do you think that could mean?"

Ruby paused in thought, seemingly deciding if what she was about to propose had any merit or was total nonsense. In the end, she decided it needed to be said "I think, on that night next to the river bed, as I…" She paused carefully selecting her words "lay dying with that blade in my chest…I think he pushed himself past the breaking point trying to save me. The bright flash of light, my wound miraculously healed, and not only that, but my aura had somehow returned too."

She met her sisters concerned gaze "I think that when Roxas used his powers to save me that night, he broke himself in two doing so. He pushed himself too far, and he lost his powers because of it. He pushed his abilities too far and now they're gone because of that… because of _me._ " Tears began to well up in Ruby's eyes as she continued "Roxas nearly gave his life, he gave more than he could give, he hurt himself to try and save me…and now look at us." Tears began to roll down the girl's cheeks as she expressed her revelation "I'm perfectly fine. I came out of the event unscarred…but Roxas? He was forced to sacrifice so much just to save me. He gave up all of his strength, all of his powers just to bring me back…it's no wonder why he can't stand the _sight_ of me. I took everything away from him, and came out without a scratch…but him?" She breathed a shaky sigh before saying "He came out a shell of his former self. Have you seen him trembling before?" Ruby said meeting Yang's gaze once more.

Yang blinked rapidly feeling pressure build up behind her eyes at seeing her sister so emotional. Now that she thought about it, she'd never seen the boy tremble before. Yang couldn't figure out what Ruby was even talking about.

"I sometimes watch him at lunch or across the room in class, just because I want to make sure he's okay, y'know?" She quickly added embarrassed "And I see it. Every now and then his arm will tremble or his hand with shake. He's quick to stop it, steadying himself with his other hand or pinning the limb to the desk to stop the shakes. He never used to do that Yang. And I see the look in his eyes. Yang. Not often, but I do catch glimpses every so often…and do you want to know what I see?"

"...What do you-"

"I see fear Yang!" Ruby suddenly shouted rising to her feet "Roxas has dangerous people, _powerful_ people after him. We've both faced them Yang, and they are _strong_." Ruby's voice began to grow louder as she spoke "Stronger than most of us combined. Before that night Roxas was strong too, strong enough to fight them, to protect himself, to protect _us_ when the situation called for it…but now!?" Ruby's fist clenched as she plopped back down in her chair, her expression defeated, her gaze low "Now all that strength is gone. If one of those people from Roxas's past comes after him now? There'd be no contest, and Roxas knows that. He's not dumb Yang. He knows that if he were forced to fight now, he'd _lose_."

"Ruby…" Yang's voice was sympathetic as she watched the look of conflict spreading across Ruby's features.

The girl shook her head, her nose sniffling "No Yang. You don't get it. _I'm_ the reason that he's like this now. He's always picked up the slack. He's always been strong when we weren't. He's saved us and so many others countless times over…and that night, that night he needed saving. That night _I_ needed to be the one who was strong for _him_." Steady streams of tears were running down the girl's cheeks now "And I _failed_ him. I failed him when he needed me most. And _he_ paid the price because of my failure. I wasn't strong enough…and now Roxas can't pick up the slack anymore. He won't be able to defend himself when the 'Organization' finally come back for him. And when that finally happens…it'll be _my_ fault that he's gone." Ruby choked out as she buried her face in her arms, crying in loud torrents into her sleeves.

Yang was at her sister's side in a moment, wrapping her arms around Ruby's small frame and tightly pulling the girl to her chest. It broke Yang's heart to see her little sister like this; tearing herself apart with guilt over events that she couldn't control, blaming herself for something that Yang knew she wasn't responsible for. It made Yang feel sick just thinking about it. It made her heart ache just listening to it. In the past whenever someone would make Ruby cry, Yang's immediate instinct had always been to find the one responsible and punch them as hard as she could. It hadn't matter if it had been the toughest kid in combat school, because that just made Yang grow tougher; it hadn't mattered if it was the meanest Grimm they'd ever seen, because that just meant Yang had to be meaner. Even when it had been their own father, Tai, after scolding Ruby for getting into the sweets jar again, that hadn't spared the man from a nasty charlie horse on his arm which Yang was convinced she could still see the bruise for to this very day. But now…who could she punch? There was no one that Yang could hold responsible for these tears. Ruby blamed herself, and that meant that the girl responsible for her little sister's tears…was her little sister herself. Yang figured that punching the girl right now wouldn't do any good in regards to heightening her mood. Knowing that her little sister was feeling the weight of such heavy matters as life and death, it was almost more than Yang could handle.

She couldn't imagine how it felt to actually believe it herself.

"Ruby." Yang said attempting to sound stern and sisterly, but her voice betrayed her as it came out horse and shaky. It was at that moment that Yang realized she was crying too. "Ruby," She repeated regaining her composure "What's happened happened. There is nothing that we can do about it, but you can't blame yourself for what happened that night. You did everything you could to protect Roxas. You _were_ strong for him. If you hadn't been there, then Roxas wouldn't be with us right now. You _did_ save him, Ruby. You stopped them, and if- _when_ that stupid 'Organization' comes back to try and hurt Roxas..." Yang raised her sister's chin with one hand before meeting Ruby's gaze with a confident grin "Then _we_ can be Roxas's new strength. If just by yourself you managed to hold off their crew and saved Roxas, imagine how strong we'll be when we're _all_ there next time. Team Purger and team Rainbow have Roxas's back." She quickly pulled Ruby into one of her signature _big sister squeeze the life out of you_ hugs as she said "Roxas isn't going anywhere Ruby. Don't worry one bit."

Ruby's eyes blinked away the tears before giving Yang a studious look.

" _We_ can be his strength…" She repeated under her breath before her eyes widened in realization "That's it!" She suddenly cheered.

"Huh?" Yang tilted her head as Ruby slipped out from her hug and started back peddling towards the library's exit.

"Thanks sis! You're the best!" Ruby called out with two thumbs up extended out towards the confused blonde.

"I- uh, okay! Glad I could help!" Yang called out cupping her mouth just before hearing an annoyed 'shush!' from the librarian position at a desk just by the entrance of the large room. Yang didn't understand how her little sister could go from crying to such a bright smile in a matter of moments, but seeing her sister smiling again after seeing her so… devastated, to say that it felt good to see was an understatement.

Meanwhile, Ruby was just passing the librarian with a bright smile, waving to the elderly lady as she passed. Ruby's heels clicked against the tiles as she made strides back towards her dorm room where her battle skirt and Crimson Rose awaited her. It all made sense to her now. Yang was absolutely right, if Roxas's strength was gone, truly gone, then that meant that _she_ had to replace that strength.

 _I'm the reason he's like this now, and so I have to make it better. I'm the reason he lost it all, so_ _ **I**_ _should be the person who returns it._ _ **I**_ _can be his strength,_ _ **I**_ _can keep him safe._

Ruby's face shifted to one of sheer determination. She knew that if she wanted to be his new strength, she would need to be much stronger than she was right now, and in order to accomplish that…

 _It's time to get to work._

* * *

"Huh, so this is what people wear to dances." Roxas mumbled as he looked back at himself from the portrait length mirror. Hours before he unintentionally let it slip that he hadn't known what to wear to the next day's event to Nora who immediately offered to take him. On their way out as Roxas was being dragged by his sleeve off campus Nora had also managed to grab Ren by the collar, eventually leading the two to this shop. Roxas hadn't caught the name, but it had something to do with 'Luxury' or so he presumed.

The boy turned, looking over his backside of the well made tuxedo. Roxas had been told that his was simple, a traditional black in design with a white collar shirt and a black bow tie to put it all together. Despite knowing its simple nature, Roxas figured that it was safer to go traditional rather than take a gamble with a different style considering his limited knowledge on fashion.

The boy stepped out of the dressing room where Nora was sitting impatiently on a nearby bench. Her eyes lit up as she took in the sight of Roxas.

The boy adopted a sheepish grin "How do I look?"

A bright smile tugged at the corners of her mouth "Awesome! No, incredible! No, amazing!" The eccentric girl paused in thought "Wait, is amazing a step down from incredible? Wait, is incredible a step down from awesome!?"

Nora quickly began to trail off in her own thoughts as Roxas decided to turn his attention towards Ren who was cupping his chin as he studied the former Nobody.

"So?" The blonde asked expectantly.

Slowly a soft soft smile rested on the teen's lips "I think it suits you." He finally responded.

Roxas felt his shoulders ease, he'd been worried that this shopping trip was going to turn into a long harrowing ordeal considering Nora's… distracted personality. Thankfully, however, Ren appeared to be far more efficient in the 'shopping' category

"So…what do I do now? Do I wear it out or…?"

Ren shook his head "You should go back and change. Put the suit back in the plastic as best you can and we'll bring it up to the counter."

Roxas nodded but noticeably paused as his handle touched the flat strip of metal acting as the handle for the dressing room.

"Um…" He began awkwardly.

Ren smiled "Don't worry, you don't have to put it back perfectly. The employees will fix whatever you've done afterwards."

The blonde sighed in relief. The way the suit had come in its package had been nearly perfect and Roxas hadn't felt confident he could replicate it.

The boy stepped back into the dressing room before beginning to strip back down to change into his old pulled on his shirt and soon after his pants. As he did so he briefly glanced towards his reflection before blinking and looking back.

 _Wait…?_

Roxas's eyes narrowed as he leaned in closer to the mirror, drawing his nose mere inches away from the reflective glass as he noticed something _odd._

 _What am I seeing right now?_

The boy questioned as he stood hunched over staring into the was his eyes, something in them didn't feel right. He couldn't tell how…but the blue eyes staring back at him didn't _quite_ feel like _his_.

" _I'm surprised you recognized me."_ His reflection suddenly said with a familiar feminine voice.

Roxas jumped back letting out a startled yelp as his eyes grew into large orbs. The boy reached behind him scrambling for the handle but failed to find it in his panic. Looking over his shoulder, Roxas realized that it had somehow vanished, leaving a smooth, flat portion of the door where it had once been.

" _So quick to run away. Makes sense, you've been doing it for months now."_

Roxas turned back to his reflection…only to see that it wasn't his reflection anymore. Standing before him, clad in the familiar black coat of the Organization was a girl. Roxas's eyes grew large as he felt an aura of familiarity from her features. Her short cut onyx black hair and ocean blue eyes that nearly mirrored his own…but not exactly, Roxas felt a name at the tip of his tongue as he studied the girl.

" _I can tell that you're having a difficult time remembering…it's okay, a lot of people have a tough time remembering nowadays."_ Roxas watched as the girl looked down pulling her eyes away from his gaze.

"I...No." He responded "I haven't forgotten. I remember…" He began as his eyes suddenly flashed open with realization "Xion!" He nearly shouted the name.

Xion smiled, lifting her head to meet his gaze once more " _So, you do remember. That makes me happy._ " Just as soon as it appeared, her smile vanished as it was quickly replaced with a deep frown " _If you remember me…then how have you forgotten still?"_

Roxas frowned in confusion "Forgotten? I didn't forget! I still remember! I remember everything!" The teen felt a surge of emotions begin to rise to his chest as he stared at the girl before him. He didn't understand how, or why, but this was his _Xion._ The girl he'd spent evening after evening, sunset after sunset with enjoying ice cream and _laughing_ with. He remembered teasing her over a mission that went south in the silliest way imaginable. He remembered swinging a stick around during the time that Xion was using his own Keyblade in an effort to help her relearn hers. He remembered crying…for the very first time as he saw her begin to fade away in his arms…

The teen quickly wiped his face feeling a glaze of tears smear against his sleeve "How are you here? Where have you been?" His voice croaked out. Despite his best efforts, he felt himself beginning to break down in front of his friend. Roxas remembered the first time he managed to make her laugh. He hadn't fully understood what he'd done to cause it, but he'd quickly determined that he enjoyed it and decided soon after that he would aim to do so more in the future. He remembered the time when he'd done something to anger the girl somehow and so he'd turned to Axel for-...!

 _Axel!_

"I saw Axel again!...sorta..." Roxas suddenly blurted out. His gaze slowly averted downward, wondering if he should really tell her. Just thinking back on it was making it difficult to see clearly as his eyes began to build with liquid.

 _What will she think of me if I tell her? What will she say when she knows that Axel…is gone…and it's_ _ **my**_ _fault?_

Roxas swallowed hard as he felt the thumping in his chest begin to accelerate sounding more like thunderous booms of a massive drum than a simple heart beat. He had so much to say, so much to tell her and so much to explain to his long lost friend. So much had happened and he feared what she would do once she heard it all. He wanted to tell her, tell her how his life had been up until this point. He wanted to hear _how_ she had somehow returned, or if she hadn't really returned, how she was talking to him right now and if there was a _real_ way to save her. He wanted to tell her everything and nothing at the same time. He knew that it was all so much, and he didn't want to scare her away or overwhelm her like he'd been overwhelmed in the past. He needed to tell her, he needed to tell her about Axel, about Sora, and about everything that had happened with the Organization up until this point. But…if he did...

Roxas quickly came to a conclusion as he thought,

 _She deserves to know. He was just as much a friend to her as he was to me._

"Xion…" Roxas slowly began as he prepared to explain what he imagined would be the toughest piece of information for the girl to accept "Axel came here, to Remnant. Oh, this place is called Remnant by the way." He motioned to the stall before pausing "Uh, not the store, the world- I'm getting sidetracked- what I'm trying to say is-"

Xion raised a gloved hand as she said "I know about Axel. I know what happened. That's not why I'm here."

The boy's jaw slowly fell agape in a stunned silence as he met the girl's face. She _knew_!? How? Who told her? And if that really wasn't the reason she'd come…then why was she here?

"I'm here," she began with a tight frown, here eyes seemingly staring through Roxas with a dispassionate gaze "Because I realized that I needed to remind you of _why_ you started this journey in the first place."

Roxas froze, his expression stunned as he stared back at the girl. What was she _saying_!?

"A favor." The girl said flatly, devoid of emotion "When we last met…I asked you to do me a favor…do you remember what that favor was?"

Roxas felt his mouth grow dry as he stared back at the girl "...of course I do…" He slowly muttered "How could I forget?"

A brief smile arose from Xion's lips, but her eyes remained sad "That's good. I was scared you had forgotten." Her mouth pulled into a frown again "But if you do remember…then why are you…here?" She asked motioning to the room around him, to the tuxedo he had been hanging back up.

"I-I-" He stammered "B-because, I-I thought…" Roxas struggled to find an excuse, or at least one that made sense. She was asking him why he hadn't tried to set Kingdom Hearts free. Why he'd stayed in Remnant so long, why he was currently preparing for a _dance_ rather than setting out to stop Xemnas and the Organization.

"Because…you thought Sora would handle it…didn't you?" She asked accusingly.

Roxas's gaze fell in shame. His lips remained tightly closed as he failed to answer. Deep down, he knew it to be true. When he set Sora free, he'd seen it as the weight of freeing Kingdom Hearts being lifted from him and placed on someone else, someone more capable than him.

"I-..." He paused, finding his words. His fingers clenched into fists as his voice began to fill with emotion "I figured he would do better than I ever could. I figured…" He looked up meeting Xion's gaze once more, his expression full of guilt "I figured that he could do what I never felt I was good enough for. I always strived to grow stronger from this experience, and for the most part I did, but when I thought about if I was finally strong enough to go back…" his voice trailed off as his lips tightened into a grimace "I never felt like I was ready. And after awhile I figured that Sora didn't need me. Enough time had gone by that I felt that Sora had probably grown strong enough that I wouldn't make a difference one way or another." A look of hope washed over the boy's expression "I've been having visions of him as of late Xion. I've been seeing his journey so far and it's incredible how far he's come. He's adopted a new power, one that I've never seen before. It's unlike anything that I could ever hope to achieve. His attacks can move faster than light itself, his blows are strong enough to tear through any enemy."

A reassured smile pulled at the corners of his lips "I'm sure he can set Kingdom Hearts free. He's so much stronger than I am now…I'd only get in the way."

"You're **wrong**." Xion said abruptly.

Roxas's eyebrows furrowed "I…don't understand. What do you mean?"

Xion studied the boy for several seconds, her expression appearing angered. It was something that Roxas had never seen before.

"You said that you've been seeing visions of his battles…correct?"

Roxas nodded "In my dreams."

"...Have you seen his most recent battle?"

Roxas adopted a confused expression, shaking his head he murmured "I…don't know?"

Xion's face turned serious as she met the boy's eyes "Well then," she began stepping aside, motioning with one hand to a swirling blackness beginning to take shape behind her "Let's take a look."

Before he could say another word Xion vanished completely and Roxas saw the mirror begin to glow a blinding white. Roxas shielded his eyes as the glow slowly eased, and the boy was able to look into it. Roxas paused, confused as he stared into a swirling mass of white and grey, he couldn't make heads or tails of what he was seeing. Roxas slowly approached the mirror looking it up and down, adopting a puzzled look as he did so. Slowly, his hand reached out seemingly on its own before the tips of his fingers met with the cold glass of the mirror. Suddenly, Roxas felt himself pulled off his feet as he was yanked forward with a startled yelp. The boy tried to grab onto something within the room to stop his form from being absorbed into the greyness, but his fingers failed to find purchase as he was completely enveloped into the mirror.

.

.

.

Roxas suddenly opened his eyes to a strange scene. He was standing in a room entirely composed of swirling dark and light greys as symbols danced across the walls of the room.

 _It's happening again,_ Roxas thought to himself as he noticed that his clothes were not his, the keyblade in his hand neither the Oblivion nor Oathkeeper, but rather a sleek grey one of an intricate design.

 _I'm with Sora again, aren't I? This is one of his memories._

Standing before him was a sight that would have left Roxas stunned if this were his body. The man that left fear in Roxas's heart, the one who had first found Roxas what felt like a lifetime ago. The leader of the Organization, _Xemnas_ , was before him.

 _What…is he wearing?_

Roxas thought to himself as the man stood before Sora. His typical Organization coat had been replaced by a stark white coat with sharp, almost flame like symbols designing the entirety of the coat. Roxas noted that two familiar red beams were shooting out of the palms of the man, his face expressionless as he stared down the boy.

Roxas watched as suddenly the leader of the Nobodys darted towards him, his two lasers posed and ready to strike.

Roxas felt himself begin to move in response before he noticed something that he he hadn't noticed before with all the other things he had taken in.

He was _tired._

His breathing was labored, his arms felt like they were on _fire_ as he feebly attempted to raise his keyblade in defense.

Before he could, however, a familiar looking boy with silver hair stepped in front of the attack, blocking it with a keyblade that resembled the Soul Eater…but somehow wasn't. At the same time, the boy whom Roxas somehow immediately knew to be _Riku_ shoved Sora back and out of danger.

His back turned to Xemnas, Riku had no time to react as the beam in the Nobody's other hand struck him in the side, stunning him long enough for the Nobody to go for a follow up attack.

Roxas felt himself plant his feet in position to shoot forward, to somehow save his friend and stop Xemnas's attack.

But then, suddenly, his legs buckled, and Sora fell to his hands and knees. His expression pained, and his breathing still labored. His arms and legs were still tingling; he was at the end of his rope and he knew it.

Sora winced as he heard the sound of Xemnas's attack connect with his friend, the sound of Riku's cry of pain as he was launched across the room. Sora's eyes followed the boy as Riku's form slowly rolled to a stop several feet away, before going limp.

Sora could hear the sound of footsteps approaching and turned to see Xemnas slowly walking towards him, looking down on him as Sora struggled to find the _strength_ to rise back to his feet, to pick up that Keyblade next to him and keep _fighting._

 _C'mon!_

Roxas urged to Sora as he watched Xemnas grow near.

 _Get up! You need to get up! Riku is out! You're all that's left! Fight!_

But it wasn't there, the strength to continue, the strength to rise and face this seemingly impossible threat. Sora weakly attempted to push himself to a standing position, but his legs buckled once more and for the second time, the boy fell to his hands and knees.

Roxas could feel panic wash over the boy, and this time he heard someone else's thoughts, _Sora's_ thoughts in his head.

 _What…is happening? Something is_ _ **wrong**_ _._ _Why, why can't I seem to get up? Is…is this it? Was…was I really not strong enough!?_

A wave of doubt and fear overcame the boy as he watched Xemnas stop just in front of him, his tall figure looming over him with an arrogant smile spread across his face.

"It's like you said before…" As he spoke he pulled back his arm, aiming the beam of energy directly for Sora's still motionless form.

 _No, no,no no! This can't be happening! This isn't the way it was suppose to go!_ Roxas found himself screaming in his mind. Due to sheer instinct, Roxas found himself searching deep within the core of Sora's very being, hoping to find the source of power, the source of light that always came to his aid in his most dire moments.

Abruptly, Roxas came to a stop as his search produced nothing. He paused as he came to a realization that shook him to his very core. No matter how hard or long he searched for the power, for the light he was so familiar with, he wouldn't find it within Sora's body.

 _Because that light is still within me. Sora doesn't have it…because_ _ **I**_ _kept it…!_

"Light and Darkness, nothingness…these things are all eternal… but you?" He shook his head "You…are… **NOT!** " Roxas watched in horror as the beam pierced straight down towards him, and then everything turned black.

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 _Roxas…_

 _ **.**_

 _ **.**_

 _ **.**_

 _Roxas!_

 _ **.**_

 _ **.**_

 _ **.**_

 _Roxas!...up!_

 _ **.**_

 _ **.**_

 _ **.**_

 _ **Roxas! Wake up!**_

 _ **!**_

The teen's head shot off the pillow like a bullet as his eyes snapped open with a wild and terrified look within them. He was breathing heavy as he felt a collective sweat had built across his entire body.

It took him several seconds to finally understand where he was. The lights were on, and he was sitting in his bed within his new dorm. Weiss and Namine were standing on either side of him in their sleep attires, concern written on their faces clear as day.

 _A dream._ He thought to himself, _Of course it was a dream._

The boy looked between the two of them confused as his breathing began to slow down back to normal "Uh, what's up guys?" Despite his best efforts, he couldn't shake the slight quiver to his words as he spoke.

Weiss and Namine shot each other concerned looks before turning back to him. Namine was the first to respond, worry clear in her voice "You were screaming in your sleep Roxas."

"It seemed like a _really_ bad nightmare." Weiss added on.

Roxas paused, looking between the two of them. He realized that his shoulders were still trembling from what he just saw. He couldn't fully process what he'd just experienced, what the things he just saw meant.

"Yeah…you could say that." He said looking down.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Namine asked, lightly placing her hand on his. He hadn't registered it before, but as her hand came in contact with his he realized his fingers were clenched in fists so tight his knuckles were white. The moment he noticed this, he released them.

"I…I…" He paused. _Should_ he tell them what he saw? That his Somebody, the boy seemingly _destined_ to make things right again, had just fallen before his very eyes?

He looked down at his hands. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to keep them from shaking. He quickly pushed them into his bedding hoping the two girls hadn't noticed.

 _No._

He finally concluded. If this information was giving him this sort of reaction, then he didn't want the same level of worry to plague anyone else, not yet at least, not until he at the very least had come to a conclusion as to what he was supposed to do with the information. Once he figured that out, he'd come clean to them.

He slowly shook his head "I, uh, I don't think so. It was just a dream, er- nightmare I guess." He met Weiss's gaze, and then Namine's "I'll be fine. I'm sorry I woke you up."

The two girls paused, shooting each other another knowing look before meeting Roxas's gaze once more "You sure?" Namine asked.

He nodded once "Yeah, you two should go back to sleep. I might stay up awhile longer, maybe get a drink of water or something."

Weiss nodded before leaning over and pulling him into a tight hug "Okay, but if you want to talk about it later…you always can, alright?"

Roxas mustered a weak smile as the girl pulled away "Will do."

It wasn't long after that the lights were turned off and the two girls had settled back in their respective beds. Roxas remained awake as he stared into the darkness of the room, his mind reeling as he tried to figure out what he was meant to do with the knowledge he'd just been given. For a moment, he speculated if the dream had been just that, a dream. It made the concern swelling up in his chest go away to think that perhaps the long series of dreams he'd been having were nothing more than detailed fabrications developed by his mind and nothing more. It didn't take long for Roxas to dismiss this idea. They were _too_ detailed, _too_ real to just be something that he made up in the back of his mind. He'd felt like he was really there, like these events truly happened. He knew deep down in his heart that these visions, these events, they were all real, which meant that what he'd just seen, Sora falling to Xemnas's blade, that had been real too.

Which meant that his decision over a month ago, the one he subconsciously made after returning to Remnant with Namine…had been **wrong**.

Roxas's memories rushed back to the moments leading up to his fateful introducement to the boy with the spiky brown hair. Back when he, Ruby, Yang, and Weiss had all been led by Ansem down into the basement area of that mansion. Roxas thought back to when he'd first met DiZ, and all the thoughts going through his head at the time. He remembered coming to a conclusion, one that he'd known the others wouldn't accept no matter what he told them.

He remembered that when he entered that chamber where Sora was sleeping, he hadn't actually thought he'd be stepping out of it afterwards. He'd told the others that it was okay, that things would be fine, but when he spoke to DiZ alone, he made one simple request.

"Tell them something that will make them believe that I'm coming back."

His mind flooded back to moments after the door had shut behind Ansem, leaving Roxas and DiZ alone, and then he said it.

He remembered seeing DiZ staring back at the boy perplexed, his lips a straight line as he answered back "You mean to say you're aware of the consequences of stepping into that room?"

"I was aware the moment I stepped into the mansion, sir." Roxas retorted with a slow, solemn nod.

DiZ studied the Nobody before him for several quiet seconds "Why?"

"Huh?" Roxas responded with a tilt of his head.

"Why are you doing this? Why are you ready to perish so willingly?"

Roxas wore a thin, sad smile as he looked longingly at the door where his friends had just left through "My friends are everything to me. I would fight to the very end to protect them… to keep them safe." His hand tightened into a fist as he continued "And I made a promise to one, well I guess I could say that one of them asked a favor of me that I've since promised to myself I'd keep, one way…" his expression darkened as he looked down "Or another…" He looked back up and met Ansem's gaze "And I've realized something that I hadn't before. I realized that I'm not the one who is supposed to keep that promise. I…" he looked down at his hands "I can't, even with all my power, I know that I'm not enough, not by myself at least."

"So, you want to return to Sora, and you believe that together you'll be enough to keep that promise you made?"

Roxas slowly nodded.

"Hmmm…." DiZ brought a hand to his chin in thought "Well then, in that case I believe I have an idea that might lead your friends into believing you'll be returning after Sora's awakening."

"...yeah?" Roxas lifted his head raising an eyebrow "And what's that?"

"Your friends seem to be convinced that you are more than just a Nobody, that you…are a person, a being with a heart despite the fact that your Somebody lies dormant in the other room."

Roxas felt himself growing annoyed at the way this man was discussing himself but suppressed the urge to lash out "Your point being?"

"What if we play into that idea? Say that, due to the nature of how _you_ in particular are a Nobody, that it's possible that you could remain once Sora has awoken. That perhaps if you truly are as _special_ as your friends might suggest, that once Sora has taken what he needs to be whole again, there could be enough of you left over to continue your existence."

Roxas nodded "That could work." A weak smile crossed his features "And who knows? Maybe your theory will somehow come true and I'll get to finally be free of this...burden."

"...You wish to be free of this responsibility?" DiZ inquired.

Roxas frowned, his gaze staring off at nothing in particular "I…I want to make good on my promise. I want things to go back to the way they were. I want to hang out with friends again and eat ice cream while watching the sunset." He smiled "That's what I want."

DiZ nodded "Well, I do not believe that you truly have any chance to return to this state once Sora is restored, but I will go along with your plan if it means your cooperation."

Roxas's smile slowly fell " That's all I ask for…just to give them some hope that I can be saved…even if I can't be."

That had been his only request. He _needed_ his friends to believe that he was coming back.

Otherwise they would have never let him go.

And then the unthinkable happened. He actually woke up. His head lifted off that pillow, and he was still _him_. He stepped outside and actually met Sora for the first time. He met his Somebody and discovered that he hadn't needed to give up; he hadn't needed to give himself to Sora in order for Sora to exist once more. The two could exist apart, seperate from one another.

Roxas had seen it as a second chance. The universe or whoever was in control giving him a new lease on life. He'd felt free, free to live the life he wanted finally. Although he never let himself admit it, he believed that now that he'd awoken Sora, things would be okay. His role was complete, and he could go back to his friends, back to the way things were finally. Kingdom Hearts was someone else's problem now, his Somebody would handle it. Sora was _his Somebody_ after all. He may have been able to get back what he lost from the Organization. Xion and Axel were gone after all…both by his hand…but at the very least he'd figured he could pick up the pieces and try living a life he actually wanted for once.

But as he sat in his bed reflecting upon every piece of the dream he'd just experienced, wondering if that had truly been Xion somehow finding a way to pay him a visit, if Sora had truly perished and those had been his final moments, if Riku was gone too, or if he'd somehow found a way to escape after, he understood all too well that his decision had been **wrong**.

The universe hadn't freed him of this obligation by sparing his existence. Sora hadn't been his answer to a life of his own, a life that didn't revolve around his Somebody, and Xemnas was _still_ going to form Kingdom Hearts one way or another.

 _And…now I'm responsible for…_

Roxas shut his eyes tight as he realized that the boy he made the decision to restore, to bring back, his Somebody, his _other half_ was most likely gone.

 _He's gone because I made the wrong call. Back at that train station…I thought that I was being told to go with my friends, to be the me I wanted to and not just the shadow of someone who was always meant to exist. But I wasn't, I was being given the choice to finally make things right, to be Sora's other half and help him, but I made the wrong call… and now he's paid the price for my screw up._

Roxas was right back where he'd started all those months ago. He was still stuck in the same place...but this time…

The boy reached out and closed his eyes, his concentration focusing on the center of his hand as he once again attempted to will the Oathkeeper to his aid.

His arm began to tremble in desperation for several seconds only to have nothing appear just like all the other times he'd futility attempted the gesture. His arm flopped to his side as he let out a shaky sigh. He looked over the side of his bed and saw the Oblivion resting against the wall. He reached out and took the weapon, laying it across his lap as he sat there quietly in contemplation.

"Just you and me…we're all that's left…all that's left to stop Xemnas…and Kingdom Hearts…" He quietly whispered to himself as he felt a build up of pressure behind his eyes. Droplets of liquid splashed off the surface of the weapon as he leaned over it, clutching the grip of the weapon tightly. It was all too much for the boy to handle. He'd just been reunited with his old friend only for her to tell him that he hadn't kept his word, which he **hadn't**. Which had been immediately followed up by what he presumed were the final moments of the person he'd been willing to give his life for to restore.

 _It's my fault he's gone...and I'm the reason Xemnas is going complete Kingdom Hearts… unless_ _ **I**_ _do something about it._

Leading to the realization that the only person left to do _anything_ on the matter was himself.

 _And I'm weaker than I've ever been…_

Roxas felt his entire body slowly tremble as he replayed the dream over and over in his mind, trying to piece together any shred of hope he might be able to find from it.

He found nothing.

Little did he know that a set of blue eyes were open and watching him from the covers of her bedding only a handful of feet away. Her gaze was inquisitive as she quietly observed, and slowly began to form an idea.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_

 _Admittedly, where this chapter left off was not where I wanted to end the it initially. I had planned to go much further and finally reach the actual dance this chapter, but I soon found that the scenes I planned leading up to the dance itself are much larger than I'd predicted them to be. That fact in conjunction with the fact that this is already past 13,000 words (well above the typical chapter length) I quickly realized that this needed to be its own chapter. I apologize to all of you who expected this chapter to be the dance. No matter what the next one will finally narrow in on that day considering it is now less than a day away. I didn't realize how much needed to be fleshed out when I was writing the outline of this chapter and that led to this behemoth lol. Considering the contents of this chapter… I'm sure I'm going to be getting plenty of upset KH fans in the reviews section hahaha..._ _ **(RUNS)**_ _. Jokes aside I know that this chapter took me a little bit to complete. I've been a little unmotivated recently in my writing and this lead to multiple writing sessions where I did little to no writing at all, just looking back and forth between this chapter and the outline, knowing what the words would be to continue forward but not having the drive to get there._

 _Now, many of you are most likely noticing that this chapter continues_ _ **far**_ _longer past this AN. and the reason for that is, well, I'll just let my awesome Beta Shiloh explain._

 _Take it away Shiloh!_

 _Thanks RoxaShadow! And hello my peers and friends, I just wanna say thank you so much for your patience on this chapter. I apologize that this chapter took a while longer than it should to be updated. There is a reason why it took a little while to have this updated for you see, besides poor RoxaShadow trying to deal with some hardships of life, I suggested that we do an omake since we all haven't seen another one after the last one with the sea salt ice cream experimentation. Now, I know omakes usually involve comedy, but this one is gonna be different. This omake, ladies and gents, will be a special treat for those who are in team Weiss! I must say that this one wasn't easy to write because this was the first time I ever did any form of creative writing. I had to keep bothering our poor author here just to see whether some of the parts I wrote in this omake were good enough, so I hope it's good enough for you all as well. But, it was also very fun and rewarding after getting it done. Now, just keep in mind that the beginning of this omake might be a little dark...and make you hate Papa Schnee even more because I know it made me hate that bastar-_ _ **ahem**_ _...man more than ever. But! RoxaShadow and I promise that will be lighthearted and fun in the rest of the ride. And I'm sure it will also ease some tension after what we went through in this depressing chapter._ _ **(Screaming Xion's name out in the balcony window T-T)**_ _But, enough of my rambling and sorrows. Here is the omake! Enjoy ;D_

* * *

Weiss's fingers ran along the ivory keys of the piano as she studied the familiar instrument. Her gaze drifted towards the sea of empty seats within the massive auditorium. Standing there on the birchwood stage pulled her back to a time when she would regularly perform atop stages similar to the one she found herself on now.

The corner of her lips drifted downward as she reflected on those times. Her mind drifted to a time when she was just eight when her father had first told her that she would be performing in front of an audience for the very first time. At first, happiness and excitement swelled up in her heart at the thought of sharing her music with so many people. She remembered her father telling her that she needed to practice a little harder than normal since she was performing a show for so many important guests, and how it would be bad if she messed up on stage.

If only she'd known what he'd really meant by that statement.

Weiss recalled the first time her father attended one of her lessons. She'd been so excited to play for her dad for the first time. She remembered seeing the man come and take a seat a few feet away, bearing a reassuring smile as she sat awaiting her lesson. She remembered beginning to play as her fingers moved as her tutor instructed. She finished out the song before her teacher pointed out some flaws here and there throughout the song, places to focus on and how to improve as they normally did.

She remembered seeing her father grow agitated out of the corner of her eye.

She played the song again and managed to correct a few of the mistakes her tutor had mentioned but still faulting in other areas of the song.

Her father had snapped at her after hearing this much to her surprise. Yelling at her to listen to the man as he was paying good money for these lessons and the performance was only days away.

Weiss played again.

And once more she managed to correct a few more mistakes, but once more her tutor pointed out a few areas where she could improve while praising her for so quickly adapting to his suggestions.

This time Jacques rose to his feet and walked over, standing behind the two as Weiss began to play another time.

Weiss remembered feeling a nervous bead of sweat rolling down the side of her face as she could hear her father's breath just behind her.

Nervous and scared the girl began to play, her fingers missing keys that she normally wouldn't, her timing faulting, and after one too many mistakes Weiss stopped playing altogether, her heart beating too fast in her chest for her to properly focus.

She remembered hearing the tutor ask if she was okay, she remembered parting her lips to answer _why_ she was stumbling over simple parts of the song when it happened.

The _snap_.

Weiss remembered feeling her father's large fingers wrapping around the back of her neck and her face being forced towards the sheet music while hearing his booming voice " _Are you even paying attention to what the sheet music says?!"_

This was the start to how all of her music lessons would eventually come to resemble. It soon came to the point that Weiss started to resent her musical prowess; she no longer saw her music as something to be enjoyed. Instead often times her performances and concerts felt more like an obligation than something she'd ever do for fun.

Weiss's eyes trailed up and down the smooth curves of the piano, taking in it's sleek black design and well kept surface. Weiss ran an index finger across the piano's top before lifting it to eye level.

To her surprise she didn't find a trace of dust.

The girl held an easy smile as she looked down at the instrument. Her eyes pulled away to look out towards the still empty seats of the concert hall. The lights were off leaving the area clouded in darkness aside from the dim stage light that hung overhead casting a nearly dramatic light on the lonely piano in the center of the stage.

Weiss's gaze returned to the piano, her eyes studying it questioningly. She hadn't touched a piano or sung since she'd left that household for Beacon. She hadn't wanted to. Every time she'd touched a key or parted her lips to sing before had been with the pressures of her father's wrath if she were to mess up. Fear of failure had fueled her resolve to improve at performing more than any enjoyment of the activity had.

But now…here alone in the auditorium with no one meticulously watching her for a mistake, Weiss felt a rising urge to sit down and play. If she played now she wouldn't be playing for a crowd or her father's approval.

She'd be playing for herself, and knowing that brought a smile to the young Schnee's lips.

* * *

Roxas walked through the classroom hallways with uncertainty running through his mind on the upcoming dance Beacon was hosting in a few nights. ' _What exactly do you do in these dance events besides dancing?'_ he wondered to himself as his eyebrows furrowed. The only way for him to find out was to make a trip to the Beacon Library and research the subject himself. He never had to attend events like these before, and after hearing that Weiss wouldn't mind being his partner to the dance event, he knew he had to somehow repay her kindness by at least being knowledgeable on the rules and etiquette of such activities.

As he continued, lost deep in his thoughts, he turned a corner and passed by a few more unoccupied classrooms and a closed set of double doors. He passed a few feet from the double doors before his ears perked up from the abrupt sound of a pleasant melody drifting through them. He stopped in his tracks as the music reached his ears. A smile breached his lips as he realized he enjoyed the melody. Without thinking, his body moved on its own and the boy turned around to approach the doors.

He reached out to the door knob and slowly opened one of the doors to find out who was playing such a beautiful melody. His eyes filled with the sight of Weiss and her fingers effortlessly dancing across the keys as the beautiful sounds of music emanated from the piano centered on the stage.

Not wanting to startle the girl, he slowly crept across the enlarged classroom while continuing to listen to the beautiful melody echoing out from the podium Weiss and the piano were residing on.

" _Some believe in fairy stories_

 _And the ghosts that they can't see_

 _I know that I could do so much_

 _If I could just believe in me_

 _Mirror mirror_

 _Tell me something_

 _Can I stop my fall?"_

' _Wow...her voice is so...beautiful,'_ he thought to himself as he continued to approach the podium with his eyes growing in awe and his chest swelling with a new kind of warmth he'd never felt before. Without realizing it, he found himself no more than a few feet away from Weiss. He rested his hands on the podium while continually gazing at the snow angel and listening to the resonating melody escaping from her slender fingers as well as her lips.

* * *

As Weiss slowly opened her eyes and took one more gentle deep breath in preparation for the final chorus of her song, her gaze wandered to the corner of her eye. From there, she noticed a blonde figure standing out from the dimly lit room halfway obscured from the podium. Her head snapped towards the direction of the figure and was surprised to see that this enigmatic form was none other but Roxas gazing back at her. She gasped and jolted up from the bench while smashing the wrong keys out of startlement, causing the young blonde to suddenly snap out of his stupor.

"Ah! Weiss, I'm sorry! I was just-!"

Before he could finish the sentence, both students failed to realize that the bench behind Weiss's legs was beginning to tip. Together Weiss and Roxas winced as the heavy _thud_ of the blackwood bench echoed through the empty classroom.

' _Oh dear Gods…! How did he get in without me noticing?! How long was he standing there?! Did he hear the whole song?! And why did I have to be so clumsy like a dork at a time like this in front of HIM?!'_ Weiss thought to herself as she stood there trembling while heat rushed to her face, causing the pale girl's face become scarlet red from the sheer embarrassment.

"Are you alright, Weiss?!"

Roxas asked as he quickly lifted himself up onto the podium and ran to Weiss's side. His sharp gaze noticed the subtle tremble running through the girl's slim frame. Guilt began to set in as he started to speculate if he'd inadvertently caused an injury to the girl when she jumped.

"I'm so sorry! I was heading to the library to do research on something and then I heard music so I thought I'd follow it to see where it was coming from. Next thing I knew I saw you playing the piano, and you were playing so beautifully I didn't want to interrupt you so I-uh…"

The boy looked down and scratched his head in embarrassment as he couldn't find the right words to say to her until his eyes drifted towards the blackwood bench still laying on the podium floor.

"Oh! Uh, here let me get that back up." He said as he grabbed the bench and placed it back to its proper position.

"Sorry," he repeated "I won't interrupt you again, promise." He mustered a sheepish smile that Weiss failed to return.

The girl shot him a curious gaze. Did he expect her to continue? Weiss blushed at the thought.

"Um, no." The Schnee stammered "I was actually just wrapping up so it's okay, you don't have to worry about it." The girl quickly began to collect her sheet music as a frown pulled at the corners of Roxas's lips.

"Are you sure?" He asked pleadingly "You were actually quite good…I was kinda hoping to listen to more if you didn't mind…" The teen rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, his gaze pulling away from Weiss as he studied the rows of empty seats.

"You were hoping to... listen to more?" Weiss repeated slowly as she studied the boy. She'd never taken Roxas as a big fan of music. Was he just being polite? Operating on the assumption that he was, she quickly explained "No, no that's okay. I wouldn't want to take up your time. I believe you said that you had planned to go to the library for something, right?"

Weiss watched as the boy paused, his eyes lingering on the auditorium's front doors. To her surprise, however, his feet stayed in place.

"Yeah…" He slowly began "I did but… I think that can wait." Roxas said returning his attention to Weiss.

Weiss blinked slowly at his words "Wait...you _actually_ want to hear me sing?"

Roxas nodded "I do… is that weird?" He said sheepishly.

"No, no!" Weiss said quick to refute "Not at all…actually, I'm flattered that you do like my music." A light blush ran through the girl's cheeks.

Roxas's eyes narrowed at her cheeks noticing her blush. His mind raced attempting to figure out what that social cue meant exactly.

' _Let's see…'_ He quietly thought to himself ' _Whenever I saw Ruby do that it usually meant that she was embarrassed by something I said…! Wait!? Did I say something to make her embarrassed?'_

Roxas combed his brain looking for a way to supplement Weiss's embarrassment when a sudden idea crossed his mind.

"What if…I sing with you?" He abruptly offered.

Weiss found herself blinking rapidly together "You want us to…sing…together?" She repeated incredulously.

Roxas shrugged, his gaze averted towards the floor "Yeah, I mean I figured that maybe if I were singing with you then maybe you'd feel less embarrassed about it."

"Oh!" Weiss said in understanding "I wasn't embarrassed about singing I was-" she quickly came to a pause. Roxas was offering to sing a duet with her and she was _refusing_ him. Thinking it over, Weiss quickly realized that she would actually _love_ to hear Roxas sing.

"Actually…" She began as she slowly began to lower herself back onto the seat "I think that's an excellent idea. Please take a seat." She said motioning towards the space next to her. Roxas quickly sat down beside the girl as Weiss began to shuffle through her sheet music.

"Now then," she began "All we have to do is select a song for us to sing. Perhaps you'd like to continue the one you heard me singing earlier? It's 'Mirror Mirror Part 2'? No, something new would probably work better…how about 'I Burn'? That's a good one!" She said pulling out a page of sheet music and offering it out towards the boy.

Roxas looked down at the sheet of music handed to him. Weiss could see his lips quietly reading the words of the song before he frowned and looked up. Weiss watched as his hand reached out and took the short list of songs resting on the piano stand.

Weiss felt warmth flood to her cheeks as he went through the list of music sheets. Some of them had titles that were...less than professional.

Suddenly, Roxas came to a pause, a smile slowly tugging at the corners of his lips as his hand held a single song apart from the rest. Weiss leaned over curious to see which one he'd selected before her eyes grew wide in shock.

' _No...not that one, anything but that!'_

"How about this one?" He said smiling as he turned his head to face her. He offered her the sheet music, printed in bold letters at the top of the page was the simple title of 'Boop'.

"I-I-" She stammered "are you sure? I mean there are plenty of others to choose from, this one is um, well,"

 _EMBARRASSING!_

Roxas shook his head "No, I think this one is good. I like the name of it. 'Boop', I think it's funny."

Weiss stared dumbfounded at the boy beside her. Had he just been picking through the songs from **title alone**!?

"What?" Roxas said with furrowed eyebrows "Is it a bad pick?" He asked with an almost hurt expression.

"Uh, no no!" Weiss was quick to blurt out "I just…it's a fine pick." She said smiling as she did her best to regain her composure. Sure, this was going to be embarrassing to sing, but at the very least she would be singing it with Roxas. If there was anyone she would want to sing this song with…it would be him.

"Alright." She began as set her fingers just barely hovering over the ivory keys in a readied position "How about I start and you jump in on the next verse? Then we'll continue together on the third verse."

Roxas nodded as he put the sheet music up on the stand. Weiss exhaled one last nervous breath to calm her nerves while thinking to herself, ' _Don't be nervous. This is Roxas I'm performing with. My father won't ruin this moment for me this time.'_ Without putting too much thought into it, new musical notes with an upbeat melody produced from her slim fingers.

" _Have I lost my mind, have I just been blind,_

 _Never to have seen you might be,_

 _Everything I need, everything I dream,_

 _All along has it been right in front of me?_

 _We've been together for a long long long long time._

 _I've never thought that you and I could be a thing._

 _I can't believe it, this is happening."_

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Roxas studying the sheet music intently before his lips parted and began to sing alongside her.

" _I think oh whoa what am I to do._

 _I didn't know that I would fall in love with you,_

 _And what to do right now I haven't got a clue._

 _I just bite my tongue and when I want to say I love you I say,_

 _Boop._

 _Boop._

 _Boop."_

Weiss's eyes grew wide as she listened to the lyrics emanate from his lips. At first Roxas's timing was a bit off but he quickly adjusted to the tempo of the piano as he began to sing the second line. His voice near effortlessly harmonized with the melody as he continued to sing line after line almost as if he'd spent years practicing for this very moment. Weiss found herself in a trance as she continued to listen to the young man's voice to the point that she nearly missed her cue as the next section of the song neared. Weiss's mouth felt dry as she prepared to join Roxas's voice.

" _ **Every chatelaine wants to share her reign, so come and join me in my castle.**_

 _ **We'll crush our enemies, bring them to their knees,**_

 _ **And though I have a tendency to babble.**_

 _ **When I think about you I can't help my heart from racing.**_

 _ **My mind goes fast and my knees start shaking.**_

 _ **My stomach does flips, and my brain does flops,**_

 _ **And the feelings that I'm feeling I don't think that I can stop.**_

 _ **I could just say it, I love your everything.**_

 _ **But I can't quite tell myself, if you're feeling quite the same.**_

 _ **Maybe I should slow it down, try to show restraint.**_

 _ **Hold Magnhild, I think I'm gonna faint."**_

She listened to their voices begin to merge together. Much to her surprise, his voice was beginning to harmonize with her own.

And it sounded…

 _Wonderful._

.

" _ **I think oh whoa what am I to do.**_

 _ **I didn't know that I would fall in love with you,**_

 _ **And what to do right now, I haven't got a clue.**_

 _ **I just bite my tongue and when I want to say I love you I say,**_

 _ **I'll say boop,**_

 _ **Boo boo boo boo boo boo boo boo boo boo boop.**_

 _ **When I want to say I love you I'll say boop."**_

After reaching to the conclusion of their duet, both of them sat still until slowly they turned to face each other with wide growing smiles on their faces and laughter erupting from their lips.

"That...was really fun! I never knew that singing would be this fun!" Roxas stated in excitement as he continued to wear his grin. His heartbeat was pumping like he'd just ran a ten mile marathon; he'd not felt this much joy or excitement for what felt like ages.

"You were great, Weiss! I hope I wasn't half bad for a beginner," he stated with a sheepish smile as he scratched his cheek. Weiss couldn't help but giggle at the boy's understatement towards his singing capabilities.

"Oh the way you sung is more than 'not half bad'. You were amazing Roxas! Tell me, was this your first time singing?" She couldn't help herself from asking this question as she wondered if Roxas ever realized that he had such a wonderful singing voice. The blonde boy glanced at the piano as he contemplated the question. Besides listening to Demyx play his sitar and humming a few melodies from time to time back at the Organization, he couldn't remember ever actually singing since there was no reason in doing such an activity.

"Actually...yes. This probably was the first time I ever sang at all, especially with another person."

Weiss's eyes widened from this revelation. ' _If this was his first time singing...then that means I am the first person to hear him sing!'_ Before she knew it, her cheeks were suddenly shaded pink and her grin became wider by the second as she contemplated the wonderful thought.

"Hey, you okay?" Roxas asked the Schnee girl as he examined her with a concerned expression. Weiss snapped out of her thoughts and responded back with a nervous smile, "Huh? O-oh! Yes, I'm perfectly fine!"

Before she could allow him to press on, her eyes darted back to the piano and a brilliant idea lighted up on top of her head.

"Hey Roxas! Since you had a lot of fun singing, how about I teach you how to play the piano? You seem like the type who could be able to play an instrument, and it would be beneficial for you to be able to enjoy playing music wherever you go. Maybe we could even play duets together. What do you think?" she asked with slight shakiness in her voice hinting at uncertainty as she quietly worried he would turn down the offer. Roxas crossed his arms and closed his eyes to meditate on the thought. After a what felt like a decade to the nervous Schnee, a small smile grew across his face and he opened his eyes.

"Alright! Watching you play the piano makes it look fun, so I'll give it a shot."

Weiss's face lit up from his answer and, without hesitation, decided to start their first piano lesson.

"Great! Alright, we'll start out by understanding the scales. It goes by B, C, D, E, F, G, A, and then back to B but at a higher octave." She played the music notes as she was explaining with Roxas intently watching her slim fingers press the white ivory keys. "Now you give it a try," she instructed him with an encouraging smile. Roxas nodded and attempted to follow the same hand movement as Weiss had shown him only to fail as he skipped a key and played a different one as a result. The boy flinched as the key rang for a few seconds to emphasize the mistake he made. He could hear Weiss quietly laughing beside him and couldn't help but glance back at her and make a sheepish smile.

"Heh...oops. My bad...maybe you could show me again if you don't mind?"

"Hehe, of course. Here's how you do it." And so they continued the lesson. Their voices echoed against the walls as the two continued to laugh and play. Roxas slowly began to gain an understanding on the instrument as he gradually learned hit the correct keys to the rhythm. Their voices and music bounced off the walls of the auditorium floating through the air, drifting through the large double doors leading out into the hallway and creating a pleasant melody for anyone lucky enough to walk by. The day turned to night as they played, but the hours spent together felt like nothing at all as the two continued smiling and playing. That night, Beacon Academy was gifted an evening of music hosted by no other than Weiss and Roxas.

 _ **The End.**_

* * *

 _Well, I hope this helps make up for the lack in updates recently. Me and Shiloh put a lot of effort into it and recognize that more is to come if she comes up with more Omake ideas to work on. I find it's a lot easier to write them when you have someone else to bounce ideas off of hahaha._

 _Well as always, I'll do my best to answer all review's via PM so make sure you review with an account that doesn't have private messages blocked._

 _Until next time!_


	35. Chapter 35: Gone, But Not Forgotten

_**AN:**_ _I won't hold you for long but if you are one for music while reading like myself, I might suggest the Xion theme or Roxas theme for this chapter. It fits really well. anyway! enjoy the chapter!_

"I think I might know a way to get your memories back from that night."

Roxas blinked rapidly at the girl sitting across from him. Namine had asked to speak to him privately during lunch, eventually leading the two back to their dorm room.

"I- wait…how?" He stammered, how could she know how to fix something like this?

He sat on his bed across from Namine as she did the same, the two facing each other. Roxas watched her sheepishly raise a simple white sketch book which had previously been resting on the girl's lap. She raised it with both hands before it covered her mouth and nose from sight.

"I, um, with this." She said while pushing the book out towards him. Roxas slowly reached out and took the book from the girl before looking down at the blank white page it was turned to. He raised an eyebrow as he met her gaze a second time.

"I- oh." She blushed "I guess that doesn't really explain anything does it?"

Roxas shook his head.

A sheepish smile spread across the girl's face "Sorry, I guess I should explain huh?"

Roxas nodded as he began to turn the pages, looking for one that wasn't blank.

"Oh! Um!" Namine startled, causing the boy to look up alarmed.

"What? What's wrong?" He asked innocently.

"I-, uh, I don't know if…" She paused before taking a deep breath and sighing "Actually it's fine, I think it's okay if _you_ see them." She motioned for the boy to continue.

Roxas's eyebrows knit together in confusion before he slowly lowered his gaze back to the pages, casually flipping through them in search of one that held more than pure white. Eventually he landed on one of a simply drawn boy with massive spiky brown hair, something that vaguely resembled a dog, and one that vaguely resembled a duck.

 _Are these Sora, Donald and Goofy?_

"So…do you remember when I told you why I had been in Twilight Town?"

Roxas paused as he lifted his head thinking back on the matter. It had been so long ago, his memories on the topic were foggy at best.

"It had something to do…with helping Sora right?" He answered frowning, he figured he sounded stupid in that moment.  
Namine smiled and nodded "Right. I wanted to help restore him, help him wake up…whole…" She paused looking down. Roxas studied the girl, he could see guilt in her expression, sadness, loss.

"Are you okay?" He asked cautiously, reaching out to place a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder.

Namine sighed before looking back up smiling, but her eyes were still sad "Yeah, just…just remembering everything that happened is all."

"Oh…" Roxas mumbled slowly retracting his hand. He supposed that even Nobodies had a past, he knew that fact all too well.

"Anyway," the girl continued " I should get to the point. You see, Sora's mind…his memories needed to be restored." She slowly raised a hand to her chest "And I, have the unique ability to manipulate said memories."

Roxas blinked once before his eyes grew big "Wait! Are you saying that you'd be able to restore my memories like his!?" It was strange to think that someone would have the ability to shift and meddle with another's memories. Roxas realized that he should probably be concerned about this revelation, realizing that someone so close to him has the capacity to change something so vital to his identity…but at the same time, the very possibility that he could recover even one aspect of himself from that night which had seemingly taken away so much from him left the boy with chills of excitement running up and down his spine. He connected the loss of his powers to that night; he didn't know exactly how, but he knew the two were connected.

Namine motioned with two hands for the boy to settle down. Roxas hadn't realized it, but he'd jumped to his feet at some point in his excitement. The boy quickly sat back down embarrassed.

Namine released a quiet giggle before continuing "I'm not certain…I've only tried my ability with a handful of people, and they've always had some connection with Sora's heart to work…but, I figure, if anyone has a strong connection with Sora…it'd be you wouldn't it?"

Roxas felt a pang of sadness ring in his chest; his happiness and excitement rapidly shifting into shame and guilt as he was quickly brought back to the dream he had just the night before.

"Right." The boy confirmed quietly as a frown took the place of his smile.

Namine frowned as she noticed this, her lips parted to comment on his random sadness, but before she could, he spoke again "So, how would this work? What do I have to do to let you see if you can fix whatever is going on in my head?"

"Oh! Well it's actually quite simple." She said motioning towards Roxas's bed "All you really have to do is maybe take a nap for awhile. I mean, I could try and do it while you're awake…but it's a lot harder and takes a lot more time."

Roxas blinked a few times, taking in what she just said and processing it. She was able to manipulate his memories at any time of day? Was there a limit in range? How would he know if she'd _already_ done something in his mind? Would he be able to tell? Would there even be a noticeable difference?

Roxas shook his head, easing the tension in his shoulders and quietly thinking to himself:

 _She's my friend, she wouldn't do that to me. Besides, she told me that she didn't know if she could do it meaning she hasn't tried to yet...I mean…if she was behind any sort of memory changing why would she tell me?_

For a moment Roxas felt guilty for thinking poorly of the girl. She was just trying to help him and he was already throwing out accusations. Roxas mentally thanked himself that he hadn't spoken aloud this line of thought.

"Uh, Roxas? You okay there?" Namine said reaching out and placing a petite hand on the boy's arm.

"Uh yeah, sorry. I was just lost in thought for a second…" He looked to the pillow on his left "So…do you just want me to…go to sleep?"

Namine smiled "That's the idea." She paused "I mean, that's only if you want me to help of course, I don't want to cross any boundaries or anything like-"

Roxas felt a short chuckle escape his lips as he shook his head at her concern "Relax. I've been wanting to remember what happened that night ever since I woke back up. I looked over the police report but all Ruby said on it was that they attacked us down by the river…" He paused, chewing his inner cheek for a moment before adding "I feel like whatever is stopping me from getting back to my normal self has something to do with that night. The reason I can't be around or think about Ruby has to do with that night. I figure…maybe if I unlock that memory again, things might go back to the way they were."

Namine nodded "I think so too. Which is why I want to try and help you the best I can."

Roxas felt a wide smile pull at his lips as he suddenly leaned forward and pulled the girl into a hug.

"Oh!" Namine stammered as she awkwardly went to return the hug "I- um, that was sudden, what is this for…?"

"This is for helping me. Or, well, trying to help at least." He pulled away, giving the girl a reassuring nod "You're a good friend Namine."

Namine felt a blush in her cheeks as she nodded "T-thank you. You too, um…" Her gaze shifted to the bed "Would you like to begin now or…?"

Roxas nodded before moving to lay down on the bed before pausing as his eye caught sight of a window letting in the rays of the afternoon sun.

 _The dance…it's tonight. This won't stop me from going…will it?_

The boy thought for a moment as he considered his options. He didn't know the extent of this procedure, and thus didn't know how long it would take until Namine unlocked his memories once more. The dance was only a handful of hours away, what if he slept through it?

 _Maybe I could wait until after the dance to do this…Weiss seemed really excited to be going with me. I don't want to think about how angry she would be if she found out I slept through it._

Almost immediately Roxas's mind was filled with the image of Sora pushing himself to rise, only to falter, only to fall because his _strength_ was with someone _else._

Roxas's lips shifted into a grim, resolute line

 _ **No**_ _. This is more important than a dance. If this even has a one percent chance to give me back my powers then I have to do this as fast as I can. No more putting things off…_

His eyes closed, his hands clenched into fists as he questioned what he'd do if he really _did_ get his powers back from this memory restoration. It didn't take long for the boy to reach his conclusion.

 _...I'd have to leave, go to The World That Never Was and confront Xemnas before he can get any farther with Kingdom Hearts. I may not be strong enough, I may not have what it takes…but I'm all that's left now. And if I wait any longer to get stronger Xemnas might complete Kingdom Hearts…and then I don't know what will happen. I doubt that it'll return a Nobody's heart as he so vaguely said. If he completes it, I have an overwhelming feeling that it'll be too late to stop him then._

Roxas felt a sad sigh escape his lips as he quietly thought of all of his friends; they wouldn't understand, or at least, he figured they probably wouldn't. As far as he knew, they didn't know about the existence of Kingdom Hearts or what it meant to him to set it free. Sure, they knew about the Organization and that they were chasing him. Weiss and Yang had even seen the thing at one point, and sure, they told him that they would be there to help him if the Organization ever came for him. Roxas didn't have a doubt in his mind that they would keep that promise, but fighting the Organization off of Remnant was one thing while fighting Xemnas for control of Kingdom Hearts was entirely different. It would put his friends at a risk that Roxas couldn't allow. They had improved leaps and bounds in their regular training sessions together, but Xemnas was too powerful for any of them to hope to go up against, even with himself at full power again.

This led Roxas to the conclusion that, if he really did get his powers back, he would disappear into the Corridor of Darkness possibly never to return, and that would be it.

 _I won't be able to say goodbye. I know that if I try to, I won't have the strength to leave...if I get my powers back… then I'm sorry everyone._

"Um," Namine's delicate voice chimed, her head sideways "Are you okay? You've been staring at the window for a long time now…if you don't want to do this I understand, I'm not forcing you."

Roxas shook his head, doing his best to shoot the girl a reassuring smile "No, no, I want to do it. I've just got a lot on my mind lately is all, you know, the dance and all that."

It wasn't a total lie.

Roxas felt himself laying back and letting his head rest on the soft pillow as his eyes slowly closed, dropping the teen into a sea of calming, restful darkness. Roxas felt himself to grow more and more tired as he laid there. Several minutes went by as he did his best to fall asleep.

 _This is awkward._

He thought to himself.

 _C'mon just go to sleep already. It's just a simple nap, not that hard to do!_

 _Maybe I'm not tired…_

 _Maybe we should try this at night?_

 _But then-_

Roxas felt a yawn escape his lips and interrupt his train of thought.

 _But then Weiss would be there…and it would be awkward if Namine was just sitting…at my bedside…_

A second yawn slowly bellowed from the boy's mouth.

 _I have to...figure out a…way to…fall...asleep…_

 _...ZZZ…_

* * *

Namine smiled as she watched the boy begin to lightly snore.

 _He really does trust me._

The idea that Roxas was so willing to go along with her plan despite only knowing her for a little over a month left a warm feeling in the girl's chest. It was a stark contrast from the treatment she received from DiZ. When she'd been living with _that_ man it felt like he had been outside her door listening in during every moment. She'd known him even longer than she did Roxas now, but he still hadn't trusted her, even in the days leading up to her departure from that town. She paused as a thought entered her mind. Considering how long she and Roxas had existed, a month probably felt like a lot of time in comparison.

Her eyebrows furrowed in thought. The two of them had been created roughly at the same time…how long had it it been now?

 _Maybe a little over a year now? I'm not sure exactly…shoot, I should have paid more attention._

She mentally scolded herself for not keeping track; she started to in the beginning when the Organization had initially found her, but soon after meeting DiZ, she'd slowly lost count. From what she learned about Nobodies from DiZ, she soon came to the conclusion that she and Roxas shouldn't exist, and as a result, she figured that after Sora's revival she would most likely be either returned to Kairi...or be destroyed since she was no longer useful to DiZ.

With that sort of mentality, it grew harder and harder for the girl to care about the number of days going by.

Namine shook her head clearing her mind up.

 _I have a task ahead of me! Stay focused Namine! We're trying to help Roxas!_

The girl's grip on her pencil tightened as she quickly shifted her gaze to the blank page on her lap.

Her eyes slowly came to a close as she began to relax, letting her mind wander and stretch out, reaching out for something _vaguely_ familiar to latch onto. It'd been awhile since she'd last attempted anything like this. The last time she'd utilized these powers had been back at Castle Oblivion, when the Organization forced her to.

And even then, what she had been doing then was easier than what she was trying now. Back at Castle Oblivion, she'd been given specific instructions on what she was meant to do; all she had been replacing was one aspect of her target's memories, and replacing it with herself. She knew what she was looking for, she knew exactly what to affect and how to affect it.

But with this it was different. She was diving into Roxas's mind without knowing where her destination was.

 _I don't even know what the memory might look like if I'm being honest…I could move right past it without even realizing it if I'm not careful._

She could feel her hand beginning to draw onto her sketchbook but she hadn't the slightest clue what she was drawing. All she knew was that this meant her abilities were starting to take effect, and she would need to latch on soon.

Then she felt it, the source of Sora she was looking for. It felt… _different_ from what she had been expecting. When she'd searched out Sora's essence, his _heart_ all that time ago had been warm, cheerful, welcoming even. It had been a bright, comforting sunny color that embraced her presence when she stepped forward towards it.

Roxas's essence, however, was _not_ like this. Sure, she felt _some_ remnants of Sora, the warmth, and the cheerfulness, they were all still present, but they were overshadowed by something much _larger_ consuming the space of his heart. She could sense a large overwhelming sense of fear radiating from it. His essence had a strong, almost ice white aura radiating around it.

The girl's face contorted into one of confusion as her mind continued to venture towards the heart. As she drew nearer, the sense of fear began to break down into more specific feelings. She sensed aspects of shame, guilt, regret and uncertainty all fighting to take the place as the most prominent emotion.

Namine felt concern wash over her as she acknowledged this. What was Roxas keeping held in his heart to trigger such powerful emotions?

 _It's probably because of the loss of his memories and powers. If I help him now, these feelings might go away…_

But as Namine reached out and latched onto these emotions, she felt the magnitude and weight they held on the boy's heart, and she had the overwhelming feeling that whatever was responsible for these feelings was bigger than a simple case of deja vu.

Namine felt herself being pulled into the heart; just as Sora's heart had accepted her presence, so did Roxas's.

Namine breathed a sigh of relief.

 _I was worried for a second that this wouldn't work…now it's time to get to business._

Namine slowly began to count down from ten in her head, all the while keeping her eyes closed. This process is what she called ' _touching down_ ' when entering a person's heart. Navigating the heart of a creature is a complicated endeavor to say the least. It required her to disconnect a piece of herself to enter the heart and explore it so that she might then be able to _persuade_ a memory to adjust itself to her suggestions. This meant that she needed to create a form for herself to embody during her time within the heart so that she might properly maneuver herself while conducting her search…which typically took the girl ten seconds to accomplish.

 _Alright… here we go..._

 _Ten…_

Nine…

Eight…

She felt her fingers begin to form, she wiggled them to make sure they were working properly.

 _Seven…_

 _Six…_

She could feel her torso and legs beginning to form now, they felt lighter than usual.

 _Five…_

 _Four…_

 _Three…_

She felt the strands of her hair fall against her shoulders, gently tickling the back of her neck as they appeared.

 _Two…_

She could feel her feet now, she was standing. It felt like her feet were in a very shallow, calm puddle of water only reaching to the base of her toes as she stood there.

 _One…_

Namine's eyes snapped open just as she felt the rest of her body appear in the vast space.

The girl blinked a few times as she looked down at her hands and body, making sure that everything that should be there was indeed there. To her surprise, she was for some reason back in her white dress from way back when she'd been working with DiZ instead of the school uniform she had been wearing. Her body was translucent to a degree, which was normal to the girl as she was only sending a small portion of herself into Roxas's memories. The rest of her was still sitting across from Roxas on her bed. To the outside world, it would look like she was simply drawing in her sketchbook, her eyes glazed over and only half open. In reality she was simply drawing what she was seeing as she ventured deeper into Roxas's memories.

Namine's eyes wandered as she took in her surroundings. It looked like she was standing atop a vast open space composed of dark purples and blacks interwoven with twinkling white lights. Namine felt like she was standing in space itself as she took in the sight. Her feet swished as she stepped forward; a clear, shallow, sparking liquid occupied the entirety of the floor surrounding her and thus coated the bottom of her otherwise naked feet. It went on for as far as she could see. Namine didn't find the sensation unpleasant, if anything, the warm liquid was almost comforting like the waves of a sea gently rolling onto her feet while standing at the edge of a vast ocean.

The girl turned her head to look all around her before picking a direction and starting to walk. The nature and complexity of a person's heart made a more traditional method of searching almost impossible. From her past experiences attempting to maneuver through the heart, she found that just picking a direction and sticking to it typically yielded the best results.

 _If Roxas's heart allows me to find what I'm looking for, I'll find it. But if it doesn't, then there's no amount of searching that will bring it out of hiding._

Namine quietly thought to herself as she continued to walk. Eventually she came up to a screen where an interesting scene was playing out. Namine immediately recognized what this was as she paused to watch it.

 _Roxas's memories...these are the ones he holds precious to his heart…_

Standing there reminded the girl back to when she entered Sora's heart to change his most precious remembered seeing Kairi and Riku sitting on a severely bent over palm tree just next to Sora, the three of them laughing and teasing one another. Having to replace the memory, subjugate it to her _suggestion_ had been the first time she'd ever _felt_ sad about something. The memory left a frown tugging at her lips.

The girl managed to distract herself away from her thoughts by focusing on the memory before her.

She could see an incredible view of the sunset ahead of her, the screen turned and she saw Weiss, Yang and Ruby all sitting next to him atop a the same ledge Roxas was on. From the corner of the screen she could see the hands of a massive clock quickly leading to Namine deducing that for this memory, the four of them were sitting on a clock tower. She could see the buildings and structures below and she immediately recognized the location as Twilight Town. The view shifted downward and Namine saw a familiar blue popsicle in black gloves before the tasty treat was raised to Roxas's lips and Namine heard a crunch.

The girl felt a smile pull at her lips before she turned and continued forward where there were even more screens with entirely different scenes playing out on them. Namine watched through Roxas's eyes as Ruby and Yang began laughing, fingers pointing out towards him. From the racks of shirts and pants behind them, Namine deduced that they were in some type of clothing shop. Roxas looked down at what he was wearing and Namine realized why they were laughing. Namine didn't know why, but he was wearing a _dress_ of all things!

Namine felt a giggle escape from her lips as she watched the memory play out. Roxas quickly ran back into the dressing room and began to pull the dress off. The dressing room mirror revealed that although the boy had a bright red face, she could also tell that he was laughing too, just as the dress fell to the floor and Namine saw…

The girl felt a bright flush wash over her cheeks as she immediately swerved on her heels and continued walking.

 _I will_ _ **definitely**_ _not be telling Roxas about_ _ **that**_ _._

The girl continued to wander forward, noticing as she did so a long chain that connected the first memory to the second. It shined a bright, strong white and continued to link through the many memories now coming into view.

 _Roxas's chain of memories…_

Namine momentarily thought to herself as she ran a hand along the chain. Soon she was running, her feet splashing in the shallow water as she was led to memory after memory.

 _If I'm going to find a missing memory, then I need to find where there is a break in the chain!_

She thought to herself as she passed a memory where Roxas was sitting at a table, laughing with Ruby and Yang on either side of him appearing distraught as they looked down at a board game between the three of them.

She ran past a hand full of other memories, only catching glimpses of them as she went. One of Axel, another of Ruby, one of Weiss, one of-

Namine stumbled as she did her best to come to an abrupt halt. Taking several steps back, the girl found her eyes locked on the scene unfolding before her.

Roxas was on his knees beside a figure lying limp and weak on the ground before him. The boy was holding the girl's head up, supporting it with a hand as the girl looked up at him with eyes that reflected a deep, and powerful sorrow. They were blue, her hair a short black, and no matter how long she stared, no matter how many times she reminded herself that she had never met this girl before in her life…something about those eyes, they felt somehow…familiar.

Namine's eyes widened as she began to see particles of reflective white light begin to rapidly rise from the girl's body just as the girl's hand slowly reached up, and gently caressed the side of Roxas's face. From the weak and fragile condition she appeared to be in, Namine gathered that it had probably taken all the strength she had left just to do that.

Namine's vision began to grow blurry as the hand started to tremble, struggling to hold out for even a moment longer before the girl's strength failed her, and it began to fall away.

Before it could reach the ground however Namine heard Roxas's shaky voice whisper "No," before catching the hand in his own, gripping it tightly as if doing so would pull the girl back from what Namine could clearly see were her final moments.

"Xion…who else will I have ice cream with?" The young man asked, the desperation and defeat laced within every word.

The name forced Namine's eyes to grow wider as she stood there, watching as ice began to slowly climb from the girl's legs up to her torso before fully engulfing her. A moment later, a bright, pure glow began to radiate from the girl, absorbing her into light. Namine could feel the sorrow and fear emanating from Roxas in those moments. The terror and helplessness of watching who Namine now recognized as his friend, his ally, and what represented was his whole world had been up until this point, slowly crumble to pieces until there was nothing left of her except a lone seashell lying on the the ground.

Namine continued to watch on, as she listened to Roxas weep, mumbling his friend's name one more time, as the memory slowly faded to nothing.

"...Xion…" Namine repeated the name, before realizing that her cheeks were wet with tears. The girl quickly wiped the remaining tears out of her eyes as she recalled what had made this so hard the first time she'd done it with Sora.

 _Entering someone's heart means that you subjugate yourself to whatever that person is feeling and if encountering a memory, you feel what they felt in that moment._

"You were wrong you know."

Namine jumped as she heard a second voice just beside her. Backpedaling, she saw a figure roughly her height who had been standing just next to her, seemingly having watched the memory alongside her. Namine realized she'd been so engrossed in the events of the memory she hadn't paid any attention.

The figure was wearing an Organization XIII coat with their hood up, shrouding their face. This alone should have put Namine on edge, someone _from the Organization_ in Roxas's heart? Looking through his memories and potentially affecting them for better or for worse?

Despite all these thoughts, Namine felt calm standing next to the figure. She didn't feel in danger, she didn't feel on edge, instead…she felt a wave of familiarity about the figure, like they were meant to be there. And strangely, most of all, Namine felt safe with this person standing here.

Namine watched as they slowly raised a sleeve to their face, wiping their eyes as a distinct sniffle emitted from their nose. When they lowered their hand back to their side, Namine could make out that the sleeve had been dampened.

Namine felt a sad smile pull at her lips as she slowly nodded "Yeah…I guess I was. I didn't realize how much you meant to them, I never could have realized how much of an affect you had on Roxas's heart...Xion."

The figure turned towards Namine before slowly raising their hands and pulling back the hood, revealing the same girl Namine had just seen disappear in Roxas's arms. Namine's memories of the girl had all flooded back to her the moment her name had been spoken aloud. Namine remembered speaking to Xion about Sora, about what she had to do in order to let Sora awaken again. Namine remembered telling Xion that, if she did return to Sora, that due to being a pure creation of Sora's memories…a reflection of how he remembered Kairi, that nothing would remain once she was gone.

Not a trace.

Not a memory.

"So you remember too now huh?" Xion said with a smile. Namine could see tears in the corners of her eyes growing dangerously close to falling.

Namine felt herself smile back "It's kinda hard not to in this place." She made a motion to all around them "When I'm here, I feel what Roxas feels, I can remember what Roxas remembers…" she paused as she began to feel her eyes well up with tears. Roxas's own heart was welling up with emotion now, and Namine reflected that "And Roxas's heart could never forget you Xion."

Like a broken dam Namine watched as the tears previously threatening to fall broke through, and the girl brought her sleeves to her cheeks to try and catch the torrents. Namine soon realized what the warmth on her own cheeks were as she too began to cry. Acting on feelings that were not entirely her own, Namine reached out and pulled the girl into a deep hug, one that Xion was quick to reciprocate.

"I'm sorry!" Xion exclaimed as she clung to the girl in comfort "I know you have a reason to be here, and that I'm wasting your time, but it's…it's just been so long since I've been able to talk to another person!"

Namine's eyes widened as she began to understand what the girl was feeling. A wave of loneliness and longing to interact with the outside world again struck her like a tidal wave fueled by the link to Roxas's heart both girl's shared. Namine suddenly saw Xion, standing quietly in the dark watching through Sora's eyes as he awoke. She watched as the boy grew stronger, as he picked up new skills, and made new friends, friends that she knew she would never get to interact with. She watched as Xion cheered at the boy's triumphs and cursed at his failures, all the while alone, all the while wishing she had even one person to talk to, to share her thoughts and feelings with, her interests and ideas.

And most of all.

She wished to have a friend again.

In that moment of understanding and sympathy Namine pulled the girl in tighter for the hug. She'd been alone all this time, Namine knew this now. The least she could do was hold the poor girl until she felt strong enough to continue.

They stayed like that for a long time, for how long Namine had no idea. When the two parted their tears had dried up, and Xion smiled at Namine.

"Thank you." She said quietly "I don't know why you're here, and I know you don't know me all that well, but you have no idea how happy I am to see someone else again."

Namine shook her head "I should be thanking you. I had no idea that returning to Sora…would mean this for you." she said motioning to the space all around them, memories gently floating past, their chains tethering each of them to one another.

Xion's head fell shaking her head "It needed to be done…for Sora to wake up."

Namine felt her mouth say something to retort, but no words came out. She wanted to deny this truth, she wanted to say that it didn't make it right, but she knew just as much as Xion did that Xion's sacrifice was one that _needed_ to happen in order for Sora to awaken again.

...Right?

"So," Xion began looking around at the floating memories "Why _are_ you here? I have a few hunches, but I don't want to jump to conclusions either."

Namine opened her mouth to respond before pausing, her eyebrows furrowing as suddenly the question spawned a new line of questioning.

 _Wait, Xion returned to_ _ **Sora's**_ _heart, not Roxas's. How then…?_

"Wait a minute," Namine began staring questioningly at the girl beside her "I think I should be asking you the exact same question."

Xion's playful smile suddenly fell as she met Namine's gaze.

"I-, well I'm here because…" Xion sighed looking down and slowly shaking her head. When she looked up, Namine could see fear in Xion's eyes "I think it's best if I just show you." The girl reached out and took Namine's hand in her own before she turned and began to lead the girl deeper into the void of memories. They passed several as they continued forward, one where Roxas was staring down at a popsicle stick that read 'winner', another that appeared to be him sitting down playing piano with a Weiss beside him for some reason.

Xion came to a sudden stop at a memory that felt...different. It was connected like all the others with a chain of glowing light, but instead of pure white, Namine caught hints of gold interwoven with the snow white, fading further away from the memory the chain extended. Not only that, but based on the bright radiant shine emanating off the chains connected to the memory, Namine could tell that this one had been _very_ recent.

The girl's eyebrows furrowed. For the most part, all of this had been just the same as Sora…but this memory was different somehow.

She turned to Xion, her lips parting to ask when the girl raised a single index finger in response, prompting Namine to pause.

"Just watch." Xion spoke calmly, slowly pushing her finger towards the memory as it began.

Namine could see that the memory was taking place in a place void of walls or structure. All she could make out were swirling greys. The point of view looked down and Namine caught a glimpse of yellow and black shoes along with a dominantly black attire consisting of shorts and a short sleeve top. The Keyblade in the wielder's hand was a strange silver looking one, neither the Oathkeeper nor Oblivion.

Namine's eyes widened with recognition as her head immediately snapped towards Xion "This is one of Sora's memories!"

As Namine turned to look at the girl, she noticed the solemn, serious expression on her face. Xion didn't turn to meet her eye, instead the girl simply nodded, and motioned for Namine to return her attention to the screen.

The blonde slowly did so, her expression confused. When her blue eyes began to study the screen once more, she caught sight of a young man with silver hair standing before Sora in a defensive stance before being knocked away.

 _Riku!_

Namine immediately recognized with excitement. Despite DiZ's consistent statements that Nobody's lacked a soul, a heart, that which made them a person and thus should not be treated as such, Riku had always been kind to the girl. Riku had always made Namine feel like someone even if she didn't think she deserved it. To see that the young man had found a way back to his normal form brought a smile to her face.

That smile was quickly dashed however as she saw the individual responsible for knocking the boy away. Fear swelled up in the girl's chest as she saw the face of…someone who looked like Ansem staring down at her with two intimidating beams of light radiating from each of his palms.

"...Get up…" Namine felt her lips moving, hoping that Sora would find the strength to rise, to fight once more. Despite this hope, something in Namine's chest told her that he would not.

The girl gasped, as her worst fears were made real.

"...No…" She quietly whispered under her breath as the memory faded to nothing. The girl felt a wave of terror fill her chest as tears began to form in the corners of her eyes. Sora had _lost_. His journey had come to an end, an end that Namine could have never seen coming. She always pictured in her head Sora cheerfully grinning, returning to the Destiny Islands with Riku in hand having defeated the Organization. To see this was his fate…this had become of the boy who set off from those islands all that time ago…the boy who had a big enough heart to forgive her for everything she'd done to him back in Castle Oblivion…it didn't make sense. Namine cupped a hand over her mouth as she slowly lowered herself to a crouch, her eyes were wide with terror as she felt tears slowly drain from them. Sora had been their ace in the hole, their key to light, their key to success, their victory against the Organization and what they were trying to accomplish.

And now he was just…gone?

Namine felt numb as she slowly rose back to her feet. Had this been what was plaguing Roxas with guilt and fear? It was in his heart, where only the most powerful, most important memories were stored, so he'd had to have already seen it, right? Why hadn't he told anyone? Why hadn't he said anything?

Namine's eyes flashed with understanding as she was brought back to last night, when the boy had woken her and Weiss up with his screams.

She couldn't tell if it was due to Roxas's heart providing her with the answer or due to her own deduction, but she knew that was when he'd received the memory. No wonder his heart had seemed so dark at first; it had the weight of Sora's failure and defeat resting on it.

Xion's gaze was low as she said "I was there when it was happening. I saw the final blow, and then things all around me started to go dark. I tried everything I could think of to try and stop the darkness from seeping in, but there was no fighting it. I was nearly consumed, on the edge of fading into true nothingness when I saw a pathway out, a path of light. It led me out of darkness, away from oblivion." The girl motioned with a hand to the space around them "And it led me here." The girl sighed as she turned her back from the memory as it started to play again, Namine did the same "I've looked around some, it looks like there are more memories from Sora's journey here. Their hearts are still connected somehow…or maybe I should say they _were_ connected. It seems that I was lucky the two were still linked, it's the reason I was able to escape when…" her words trailed off, her expression grim.

Namine knew what the girl had wanted to say without her saying it.

 _When Sora_ _ **didn't**_ _._

"So now I'm here." Xion continued "Unsure of what I'm meant to do with myself, watching Roxas's life from time to time, but usually I'm-" she stopped, her arm raised to point to something when her eyes widened and she turned back towards Namine "Wait! I think I know why you're here!"

* * *

After a short walk, Namine began to see a powerful source of light off in the distance, so bright in fact that the girl had to shield her eyes after coming within thirty feet of it.

Namine went to continue towards the light but Xion's arm stopped her.

"Don't go any closer, this is as close as we can get without it getting violent."

Namine met Xion's gaze with a curious expression. What did she mean by _that_?

Suddenly, Namine saw the Oathkeeper flash into Xion's hand.

"W-wait, how do you…?" Namine stuttered staring down at the weapon in confusion. Ever since that night, Roxas hasn't been able to summon his Oathkeeper at all, how was she able to…?

"Oh, right, this." Xion looked down at the Keyblade in her hand "I had to borrow it from Roxas when I got here. I know he's upset over it, but it's for a good cause," she said pointing to the still blinding amount of light "I've been trying to get this thing to release the memory, but no matter how much I try, I can't seem to manage it."

Namine stared at her blankly.

Xion sighed "Just watch."

The girl in black immediately darted forward, the Oathkeeper trailing behind her as she ran low to the ground towards the light. Almost immediately, a bolt of pure white energy surged out towards the girl so fast that Namine could barely even see it coming. Despite this, Xion managed to dart to the side in time, avoiding the beam as it exploded in a brilliant flurrish against the ground where she had just been. Xion continued to close the distance between herself and the source of light as a second beam shot out towards her petite form. This time Xion raised the Oathkeeper just in time for the blast to splinter against the Keyblade, rapidly shooting smaller beams of light in random directions before the beam faded and once more Xion's feet began to carry her towards the strange light.

As Namine watched, she couldn't help but think back to how Roxas liked to fight in their spars: aggressive, yet calculated and well timed.

As Xion came a mere five feet away from the source of light, a surge of energy exploded towards the girl's chest. In an instant, Xion flipped into the air, avoiding the blast and raising the Oathkeeper above her head with both hands. Namine watched with wide eyes as the Oathkeeper came down on the source of light, coming mere inches away from it before a blast of light larger than all the rest shot out, finally connecting with Xion's form and sending her flying back past Namine.

"Xion!" The blonde called out as she raced to the girl's side. The girl in black was slowly picking herself up using the Keyblade as a crutch as she did so.

"Huh, got a little closer that time." She murmured, wincing in pain as she brought a hand to her chest where the beam had connected.

"Are you okay!?" Namine nervously asked attempting to help the girl to her feet.

Xion waved off her concern "I'll be fine in a little bit. Just sore for now." The girl scowled "Man, I hate being so weak! I had to return all the power I took from Sora and Roxas when I returned to Sora, so I can't use any of my magic to try and get through." The girl sighed appearing defeated.

"Um," Namine mentally took note of the fact that she'd described herself as 'weak' despite being able to react to something that Namine couldn't even see coming "I'm sorry, but, what exactly _is_ that?"

Xion picked herself up brushing herself off as she said "Isn't it obvious? It's Roxas's light."

Namine's eyes grew wide as her head suddenly whipped around back towards the massive source of light.

"W-wait, that's it!?" It was huge! The size of a building now that she took the time to look at it. Namine smiled at herself, of course it was; it was _Roxas's_ light after all, his source of strength, his source of power. Everything he could do drew on this, his magic, his spells, it made sense for it to be massive...but…why was it here? And why did it have chains connected to it reaching out to the other memories?

"Why is it connected to Roxas's chain of memories? I don't understand." She shot Xion a concerned look.

Xion giggled at the girl's expression "You look so confused right now, it's kinda funny. I'm guessing I was right in assuming this is the reason you are here?" Namine blushed, nodding in response "Anyway," Xion continued, looking out towards the light "If you look closely, it's actually surrounding a memory."

Namine's eyes narrowed to slits as she did her best to see through the blinding light. Just as Xion had said, she could vaguely see the outline to a memory within its center, but the contents of the memory were much too obscure to hope to make out anything.

"It is…" The blonde girl mumbled before turning back towards Xion "What does that mean?"

Xion shrugged "I don't know for sure…but I do have a theory as to why it's here."

Namine raised an eyebrow expectantly.

Xion smiled and said "It's a long one, you ready?"

Namine smiled back "You already know the reason I'm here, do you think I'm going anywhere?"

Xion laughed "I guess not…" Her words trailed off, her gaze growing distant "... I didn't realize how good it would feel to joke around with someone again…" The girl shook her head rapidly, turning her attention back to Namine "Sorry, right, back to the point."

The girl in black took a deep breath, before beginning "So, when I arrived, Roxas was already like, _this_." She motioned with one hand towards the light "Now, it's obvious that his light isn't _supposed_ to be here. It's meant to reside in a place far closer to the center of his heart; his light is part of his core, kinda like a seed to an apple y'know?"

Namine nodded.

"So I started to wonder how and _why_ it would come here of all places, to the memories connected to his heart. The how was simple, obviously something Roxas did separated himself from his light. He divided himself doing something…maybe by darkness…? Or… I haven't quite figured out how Roxas managed to break his light away from himself. I wouldn't think it possible actually."

"He strained it." Namine suddenly blurted out "Before he lost his powers he'd been in a big fight where he'd been pushed to his breaking point. Then whenever he tried to access his powers afterwards he had a blinding headache like trying to work a strained muscle…then he got in a pretty serious fight afterwards before he had time to recover…and he lost any capacity to use his powers at all."

Xion blinked a few times surprised "Wait, he got in a big fight? When?"

Namine paused in thought "Like, a couple weeks back? A little less than that actually."

Xion looked down, chewing on one of her knuckles "Huh…I hadn't thought to look that far back…" She looked back up and met Namine's gaze "So that's what we'll go with then. Roxas strained himself and then pushed further, his light couldn't take the strain and as a result broke in two, the larger part of it eventually finding its way here."

Namine chewed on her bottom lip before asking "But why? Why here?"

Xion smiled "Well, this is the interesting part of the theory. You see, obviously, Roxas and his source of power were never supposed to be apart from one another. Roxas commands his light to his will, the light isn't an entity with a will of its own. It's another piece of Roxas…" She turned to look out towards the light "Just one that got lost along the way. Once separated, it obviously wanted to find it's way back to Roxas but didn't know how to. It wandered, searching out the Roxas it knew until it found this memory. I've looked at the others, the ones before and after whatever this event is. Before is back when Roxas had his light, and after is when he doesn't, which means one thing." She turned back to face Namine with a confident grin on her face "This memory is the moment that Roxas loses his light. The last moments Roxas still had it, and his power is drawn to it because of that fact. It wants to return to Roxas at the exact moment that they seperated and make things right again, but it doesn't realize that this is just a memory…" Xion frowned "It's probably reliving that memory over and over again trying to reattach itself to Roxas without any affect. It's holding onto the memory just as hard as it held onto Roxas before they were seperated. It's treating this memory like it's new core…which also means…"

Xion raised the Keyblade in her hand above her head before throwing it with the force of both arms directly at the light. Before it got within ten feet of the energy a beam of light struck the Oathkeeper, sending it spiralling back away.

"It treats the memory like it treats Roxas, doing it's best to keep him protected and making it impossible to get through and try to detach the two." The girl grumbled as she walked over to where the Oathkeeper had landed and picked it up.

Returning Xion said "That's the reason Roxas has been hurting every time he tries to access the memory. Without a proper direction, Roxas's light doesn't know what to do. It latched onto the memory in hopes to return to Roxas, but I imagine it's a memory about fighting, so the light is hostile in response."

"So…basically anyone who tries to access it, even Roxas, is lashed out at." Namine mumbled beginning to understand.

"Anything that the light would perceive as bad news basically." Xion grumbled as she sat down, staring off towards the light "And you know, being Roxas's power, it's just as stubborn."

The two girls laughed.

Namine slowly lowered herself so that she was sitting beside the girl. The dampness of the floor sent a shiver up the girl's spine. The two sat quietly for some time, pondering what to do to try and free this radiating pure energy.

"Hey, have you seen Ruby in Roxas's memories?" Namine suddenly asked.

Xion slowly nodded "Not very much, some in the past memories, but the recent ones for some reason make the light start acting up again so I don't get to see much of her.

"Why do you think Roxas hurts whenever he sees her?"

Xion chewed the inside of her cheek for a time before shrugging "Maybe the memory makes the light view her as an enemy. Maybe she did something that sorta led the two to seperate, maybe whenever Roxas thinks or sees Ruby, his heart instinctively goes out to this memory and it attacks him for coming too close to it." Xion rose to her feet before starting to walk away.

Namine turned her head to follow the girl, confused she called out after her "Where are you going!?"

"Getting a running start!" Xion responded before running back in her direction. Xion shot past the blonde at a full sprint straight towards the light. A streak of energy shot out towards the girl which Xion nimbly leapt over, flying through the air with the Oathkeeper drawn back ready to swing. The girl was seemingly less than an inch away when the second streak of energy struck her, sending the girl tumbling back shouting out 'Crap!'.

Namine did her best to suppress a giggle as Xion came rolling next to her. Lying sprawled out on the damp ground, Xion looked up and saw Namine's laughing face.

Xion smiled "Yeah, yeah laugh it up," before bursting into giggles herself.

Rubbing her hip where she'd struck the ground Xion sat back up, looking over towards Namine "So, what's _your_ plan to fix this?"

The blonde paused at this, thinking "Well, I originally thought it was just a case of memory loss. I was going to try and persuade the memory to return to where it was supposed to be…" She looked out at the still burning light "I never could have guessed _this_ is what happened."

Xion slowly pushed herself back up and started to walk away "Well, might as well give it a go while I get a running start again. I was super close last time."

"W-wait, you don't think I could persuade the light…do you?"

"No harm in trying, well, I guess except you might get struck by a bolt of light…is that technically a lightning bolt? Hmmm?" Xion muttered to herself continuing to walk away.

Namine turned her attention back towards Roxas's light in thought…could it be…? If the light attached itself to a memory…would it operate similar to how a memory would?

Namine rose to her feet and began to approach the source of light, pausing when she reached a distance that started to make the light grow agitated in preparation to strike if need be.

Namine slowly shut her eyes as she began to reach out, using her ability to call out to the memory.

 _Please, you need to let go._

 _ **Let….go?**_

Namine startled as she heard the voice answer her back. She heard the rapid splashing of Xion running up and called out "Wait! Wait! I might be onto something here!"

Xion awkwardly stumbled to a stop breathing heavily "What?"

"Just…give me a moment." Namine said with a determined gaze as she closed her eyes again. She was used to communicating with a memory before, telling it what to do, where to go, how to to adjust. With no will of its own, memories usually complied with her requests, doing their best to adjust in a matter that fit her desires. Unless it was a particularly strong memory, she'd typically be able to affect it how she wanted to.

But none of them ever **talked back**.

 _Are you scared? Are you looking for Roxas?_

 _ **Scared…looking…Roxas.**_

"It doesn't know how to use it's own words." She mumbled to herself. This was just a piece of Roxas after all. Perhaps it retained a fragment of the boy's cognitive functions, but at its core it was still just an aspect of light lost from where it should be.

 _We can take you back if you let us._

 _ **Take...back?**_

 _We want to help._

 _ **Want…help.**_

 _Would you like it if we returned you to Roxas?_

 _ **...like if….returned….to…Roxas…**_

A smile stretched on Namine's lips. It's voice, it sounded like Roxas. This fragment of Roxas was scared, searching for its whole. It didn't need to be driven away from the memory, it needed to be gently guided back to where it was lost.

 _Let go, and we'll take you._

Namine opened her eyes releasing her concentration and almost on cue, the light emanating from the memory began to drain from all around the screen, pooling into the liquid below.

Xion's eyes were wide "What did you just do?"

Namine smiled "I asked nicely. I told him that we could take him back to Roxas."

After a few more seconds, the light had entirely vanished from the memory, leaving behind a screen that was entirely black, and a dense blob of white that began to bubble and rise as it started to take shape.

"Uhhh, what is happening?" Xion asked nervously looking between the rising figure and Namine.

Namine's expression shifted to worry "I- uh, I actually don't know, this is new for me too."

Xion summoned the Oathkeeper to her side as Namine got in a ready stance for whatever was to come just as…

The bubbling snow white liquid took a humanoid shape, before the light began to slowly fade away, revealing a very familiar face.

"Roxas!?" The two girls questioned at once as Roxas stood before them.

Roxas's eyes were wide as his head slowly turned one direction, and then the other.

"Roxas." He repeated "Like…if returned…to…Roxas."

"Oh…." Xion grumbled before shaking her head "Of course, his light took a form that resembled like him so that he could be led." The girl slowly walked up to the boy before slipping her hand into his.

Xion smiled as she said "I'm going to take you to Roxas now, sound good?"

Roxas slowly turned to meet her gaze "Sound…good."

Xion slowly walked with the replica of Roxas, the two taking baby steps as the aspect of light did its best to imitate her movements.

"Hey…why isn't it glowing?" Xion asked as she looked back towards the memory previously surrounded by light "Shouldn't it be working now?"

Namine frowned "Not always." The girl in white walked up to the chain linking it to the others. It had been darkened and cracked in place, chipped and slightly broken in others.

"The repeated strain on the link to this memory has caused it to decay."

"That doesn't sound good. Will it ever be the same?" Xion asked concerned.

Namine nodded "Memories are fickle but the heart is strong. If this hadn't been such an important memory, if we weren't in Roxas's heart, then we might be in trouble…but over time, such crucial aspect of a person's heart always repair themselves."

"So it'll just be a matter of time now." Xion reiterated.

Namine nodded "That or something from the world sparks enough of a trigger to force the links open again."

 _Like Roxas returning to Sora to wake him up._

Namine thought to herself.

Xion looked over at the boy currently holding her hand "It's so weird to see you here…but I know you're not actually here…" She mumbled to herself.

Namine frowned before walking up "So, lead the way Xion. Let's take this one back to where he's supposed to be."

Xion stared at Namine for several moments, blinking twice before bursting out into laughter "Well I'm glad you're eager, but that's not how it works."

Namine stared at the girl with a tilted head "Huh?"

Xion motioned with her free hand to the space around them "Look around you, what do you see?"

Namine looked around "I see…a lot of memories."

Xion nodded "Exactly, the heart is a vast,complex, intricate place that cannot be easily navigated. This place is just _one_ section of it. We'd have to find the section of his heart where light boy over here belongs." Xion sighed "Not only that but…" She began to walk with the boy who could only take baby steps at a time, causing Xion to wait after each step "I don't think we're going to be going anywhere fast anytime soon."

"So…" Namine started "What does that mean? What should we do?"

"Well...what _I'm_ going to do is lead this little guy back to where he's supposed to be…it'll take me awhile considering how fast he moves and there's the fact that I don't actually know where I'm going…" A look of concern washed over Xion's face "Oh boy, this is going to take me awhile…" She sighed shaking her head "Can't be helped, but as for _you_ -" she said pointing at Namine "... I think it's time you headed back."

Namine saw Xion forcing herself to smile, attempting to be strong, but she could see that her eyes were sad. Namine could imagine why the girl was so sad, her first point of contact in so long, the first person to chat with her, to joke with her, to laugh with her…and now she was going away.

She was going to be alone again, and she knew that.

"..." Namine didn't know the words to say. What do you say to someone who's about to face a life of solitude all over again, forced to watch from afar, but never interact with, never speak to, never _befriend_ again.

"Oh cheer up!" The girl in black said with a bright smile, seemingly reading her mind as she continued "It's not like you're leaving me completely alone." She motioned towards the aspect of light still clutching her hand "Now I have this guy to keep me company…" Xion peered at the boy beside her with a studious gaze " Now that I think about it…I might be able to teach him a few things before I return him to Roxas…might help him out in the long run...Oh! Speaking of which!" Xion looked down at the Oathkeeper in her other hand " I guess I don't need this anymore now that I finally got Roxas 2.0 huh?" She chimed as she willed the Oathkeeper to disappear.

Namine felt a weak smile pull at her lips "Yeah…that's true." But she knew even that wouldn't last. Xion was heading to put him _back,_ leaving her to be all alone once more. Besides, from what she'd seen, it didn't seem like this aspect of Roxas had very much personality to him, more just like a walking husk of the boy he was meant to be.

"...You're so strong Xion…" Namine eventually mumbled.

Xion's smile faded away, meeting Namine's gaze with a serious one "...It's just the way is has to be Namine."

The blonde felt her hands tighten into fists.

 _Maybe…or maybe not…_

"Oh! Before I forget!" Xion added "You wouldn't mind not telling Roxas that I'm here would you? I know him better than…most. I know that if he realized that I was _here,_ he would tear himself apart trying to free me…and he has enough on his plate right now I think to have to deal with me." Her head turned off towards a memory of Roxas playing a strategy game with Yang and Ruby; he and Ruby were teaming up to try to take down Yang's seemingly impenetrable defences.

"I think he's got some pretty nice friends now…I'd hate for him to feel guilty knowing that I'm here. I don't think he could enjoy himself knowing in the back of his mind one of his friends are trapped. Regardless if that's the natural order of things."

"I was wrong!" Namine suddenly shouted.

Xion raised an eyebrow "Huh?"

"You were right. I was wrong about this, about everyone forgetting you, and I'm realizing that I was wrong about _this._ "

Xion stared at the girl dumbfounded "Namine…you and I both know that this is just the way it has to be. I needed to return in order to save Sora, in order to help Roxas…people like you and me…we don't get to live normal lives Namine."

"Well maybe just because that's how things are doesn't mean that's how things should be!"

"...What are you saying Namine?"

Namine felt tears begin to collect in her eyes "Xion, I promise to figure out how to set you free one day! I promise to find a way to let you live a normal life like everyone else, I know there must be a way! And I promise that I'll find it."

Xion's eyes grew wide before a look of sadness washed over her features "Namine…I've accepted my fate. I understand that _this,_ " she motioned to all around them "This is where I need to be, where I need to stay in order for things to be right. We were born Nobodies. We exist regardless of if we shouldn't. I even more than you." She looked down, her eyes watching the water as it rippled around their feet "I'm a memory, one that was never supposed to be. So even if Roxas remembers me, that doesn't change anything. I'm still a part of Sora and so is he. We're meant to be with him. I'm meant to be with him."

"You're _wrong_."

Xion looked up confused. Namine's eyes were producing tears, but the girl wasn't sad or pitying her like Xion would have predicted. Xion could see a fire behind her eyes, one that _bled_ defiance.

"Sure! Maybe we were never meant for this world...maybe it's true that we were born without hearts...born different from everyone else. But that doesn't mean that we don't get to exist too! That just means that we need to fight even harder than everyone else to prove to the world that we deserve to be here too! I've learned that I'm prepared to take that fight; I'm not willing to give up anymore and I'm not gonna no matter what happens! And even if you don't want to fight, even if you want to give up here and accept what the world has told you about our existence…then that just means I'll have to fight even harder because I'll be fighting for you too!"

Xion's eyes were wide with shock, watching as Namine glared at her with an unwavering determination that felt somehow…familiar. It was the determined eyes of someone who wouldn't stop, someone who would do anything to help their friends.

Xion felt a smile pull at the corners of her lips.

 _It looks like your heart is having a bigger effect on this girl than I ever could have imagined, Roxas._

Xion sighed, her shoulders slumping "Well, I guess there's no stopping you huh?"

Namine nodded, wiping her face with her forearm "I won't tell Roxas you're here. You're right that he would tear himself apart trying to figure out a way to let you free…but…I'm coming back for you, okay?"

Xion smiled at the girl, it was a sad smile, one that Namine could tell she was only putting on for her sake "Thank you. I'll be here, waiting."

Namine smiled back "Good. We're going to see each other again, okay? And you'll get to see Roxas, the real Roxas again and I'll introduce you to all of the friends we've made!"

Xion nodded "I'm looking forward to it."

Namine opened her mouth to say more, but quickly closed it. She couldn't think of anything more to say. She didn't want to leave, but she had to; she didn't want to leave Xion alone again, but she couldn't very well _stay_ in Roxas's heart. This wasn't her place; she needed to return to her own body, but she knew that once she did, Xion's only company would be this small strand of Roxas still clutching her hand nervously. Soon, she wouldn't even have that to talk to. Namine knew that her heart was being affected by Roxas's right now; he was pushing these feelings onto her, the desire to stay, the desire to want to help Xion, but in that moment Namine figured that if she looked inside her own heart she would see it reflecting the same desires.

Suddenly, Namine rushed forward and wrapped her arms around the girl in a tight embrace.

"I'm coming back," she whispered, repeating herself "I promise that I'm coming back."

Xion slowly wrapped her arms around the girl, returning the hug "I'll be waiting for when you do."

Namine felt herself begin to fade in that moment, allowing her connection to Roxas's heart begin to slip away as her vision of Xion and Roxas began to fade. She watched as Xion waved to her with a sad smile before slowly turning her head to look at the other Roxas.

"So…do you like ice cream?"

* * *

Roxas's eyes slowly fluttered open as the boy yawned. Stretching, he slowly sat up wiping the corner of his eyes before his eyes flashed open, remembered why he'd taken this nap in the first place.

His head immediately jerked towards Namine whose head was down, a hand wiping her cheeks.

"Namine?" He asked concerned, had she been…crying?

"Huh?" The girl's head shot up and she met his eyes with a bright smile "Oh, hey Roxas! Um, how are you feeling?"

"Uh," Roxas rubbed the back of his neck working out a kink he'd gotten from sleeping funny "Pretty alright, well rested mostly…! Wait!" He suddenly called out jumping off his bed and pointing out towards the window which revealed a sea of night stars "What time is it? We didn't miss it did we?"

Namine blinked studying the teen with a confused expression before realizing what he was asking.

 _The dance!_

"Oh! Um!" She quickly reached into her pocket and pulled out her scroll "It's 8:14...8:15."

"There's still time!" Roxas blurted out as he swiftly reached underneath his bed and produced the small case Ren had given him to fit his suit inside of for the time being. He quickly began to open the container before pulling out dress pants and a tux before pausing.

Namine raised an eyebrow "Are you okay? If you're going to make it you should hurry."

"I…uh, I just have to test something…" He muttered as he slowly reached out a open hand and began to focus.

Nothing happened.

Namine sighed, she knew that he'd wanted this to restore his powers immediately, but it would take some time before Xion could find his core and return the source of his power back to where it needed to be. The girl opened her mouth to explain this to him, excluding the bits about Xion before she paused seeing his face.

He didn't look angry, or saddened, he looked…happy?

A bright smile was pulling at the boy's lips before he breathed a sigh of relief and went back to arranging the tux properly as he'd been taught by Ren.

"Oh!" He suddenly exclaimed, spinning around "Sorry, how did it go? Did you manage to fix everything?" Roxas began to think back to the night in question; to his excitement, he felt no pain. He could recall Ruby and himself having a food fight, the two of them walking down a road together…and then…?

"It might still be a little foggy," Namine began "The memory had been under an intense amount of stress when I found it. The links it has to your heart are a little frayed right now, but over time you should recover." She paused before adding "Oh, and you were right by the way, your power, and the memory, they were connected. I managed to separate the two but…" She chewed the inside of her cheek, she had no idea how long it would take Xion to find Roxas's core, it could range from a day, to a week to a month with how complex a person's heart can be. "It might be a little while 'until you have your power back. I'm sor-"

Roxas smiled at the girl before pulling her into a hug which prompted Namine to squeak in surprise.

"Thanks Namine, you're the best."

"But I didn't get your memories or your powers back!" She contested confused.

Roxas shook his head "All it'll take is a little time right? Besides," he grinned as he released her and motioned towards where his suit was laid out on the bed "I have a dance to attend."

Namine smiled back at the boy, she momentarily thought of bringing up the fact that she learned about Sora's loss, but thought against it.

 _He looks so happy, I should let him have this night at least. Let him enjoy being normal for a night; I'll bring it up with him another time._

"Uh, Namine?" He awkwardly began to ask, his cheeks turning red "You wouldn't mind hanging out outside would you? I mean, I need to get changed and all so…"

Namine's mind immediately flashed to the changing room memory she'd seen before her cheeks burned a bright red "O-Of course!" She stammered before immediately running out of the door and shutting it behind her. She needed to get dressed too of course, but she didn't have a date so she figured it wouldn't matter if she was a little late to the dance. As she waited for the boy to be done, her mind puzzled over a sea of delema's ahead of them.

 _Xemnas won, Sora and Riku are…gone, Kingdom Hearts is still being formed, the White Fang has a member of Organization XIII with them and…Xion is still trapped._

The girl looked down at what her final drawing from the experience had been. Before her was a picture of Xion and Roxas holding hands with herself several feet away, drawn lightly as she began to dissipate.

Namine closed her eyes and sighed as she looked down and quietly whispered to no one in particular "I made a promise Xion. I will see you again."

* * *

 _...What am I doing? Why am I just standing here?_

Roxas thought to himself as he stood frozen outside of the gymnasium recently converted to serve as their dance hall. Roxas could hear the music playing from inside as vibrant lights spilled out from the massive door frame and shaded his shoes with color.

 _Just go in already! What is wrong with you!?_

The boy asked scolding himself as he continued to remain stiff standing several feet from the door. Despite the fact that the sun had set almost an hour ago and a cool breeze was running through his pulled back golden hair, the boy had never felt warmer in his life.

He felt himself pulling at the collar of his tuxedo wishing that he could loosen it even an inch from around his neck, but he'd been told by Ren that doing so might ruin the outfit so he refrained. His mouth felt dry while his feet and hands seemed entirely too clammy. His mind was racing with what he was supposed to do once he entered. Was he supposed to find Weiss? Was he supposed to wait until she found him? Should he have brought something? Was he too overdressed? A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face as it hit him, the realization of an occuranced he'd never even perceived as a possibility.

He was _nervous_.

 _But why!?_

He shouted at himself.

 _Why am I so nervous_ _ **now**_ _of all times? I've stared down an ocean of Grimm, fought against the Organization, and faced death in the eye so many times without fear...but now?_

In that moment he couldn't bring his feet to move forward, not an inch, not a centimeter. He couldn't understand it, he'd seen Weiss dozens of times outside of school, they'd hung out more times than he could remember, this was no different…wasn't it?

Roxas watched as he saw another couple of classmates walk past him, sharing a laugh together from a joke Roxas hadn't been a part of. The boy watched as they moved past him and saw the way the girl had an arm linked together with her date, her hand playfully brushing up against his chest as they continued to laugh together.

 _...This_ _ **is**_ _different..._

He thought to himself finally realizing why he had become so nervous. This was a formal gathering where who you went with _meant_ something. It signified a connection, a mutual interest in each other that Roxas had overlooked. He hadn't known what it truly meant to go with someone to a dance when he'd been asked to go with Weiss. Then in the days leading up to the event he started to pick up on clues that alluded to something more. He saw elaborately designed signs asking another to a dance. He saw flowers distributed frequently, often in conjunction with the request to attend the dance with one another. He saw some of the recipients of these gestures embrace the other before the two closed the gap between their lips and-

A sharp red blush ran through Roxas's cheeks at that moment. Was that what Weiss expected of him this night? Had he made a mistake? Was that something he was willing to-

"Oh good, you only just got here." He heard a familiar voice say behind him.

Roxas turned around and felt his eyes widen, taking in the sight.

Before him he saw Weiss, her snow white hair in it's signature ponytail drifting off to her side. Her usual dress had been dismissed for a milky white dress that stopped midway down the girl's thighs which were naked aside from a pair of white pumps decorating her feet. The dress ran up her torso providing slits on either side of her abdomen before continuing up, where the white fabric fell away at her cleavage in place for a darker grey, translucent material that revealed her neck and collar bone.

It wasn't an immaculate dress by any means, in fact Roxas gathered that it leaned towards the simpler sides of the designs he'd seen up until that point. However, something about the way she wore it…made the boy freeze in place.

"You look nice." She complimented with a smile.

"I- uh-" The boy stammered with a blush "Thanks, you...too?"

Weiss giggled "Thank you Roxas. I know it's not the flashiest, but I think it fits the occasion."

Roxas swallowed "No, no! I think you look great!"

Weiss nodded with a smile before pointing with one finger towards the door "Are you ready to head in?"

Roxas's gaze slowly shifted towards the open door way before he responded "Yeah, sounds like a plan."

Without a word Roxas felt Weiss's arm slip into his, linking them together as she began to walk towards the loud music and bright light.

Instinctively Roxas began to move with her, his feet moving in tune with her own.

 _Alright...here we go._

* * *

 _ **Author's Note**_

 _Well that was quite the chapter wasn't it? Now I know that I promised that we'd get the dance scene in this chapter in my previous AN, and believe me when I say I had full intentions to do so. The initial scene with Namine I had planned in my head to only realistically consume maybe 5 pages, leaving the rest of the chapter towards the dance. I operated under this idea until eventually I reached 5 pages and went "huh, well I guess I can move some stuff back and shoot for 10." then I reached 10, then 15, then eventually 20 and each time I reached one of these points I just realized more and more how much these characters needed to be properly explored for the scene to hold the emotional weight I had intended. I apologize if these chapter didn't explore the topics you wanted answers for but I assure you that I haven't forgotten them. I have full intentions to continue onto the dance in the next chapter which is the reason why I ended it where I did with Weiss and Roxas walking into the ball. If everything goes accordingly (which it likely won't since there is so much going on now and every scene I think will be 4 pages will take a chapter instead) a lot of events are going to go down next chapter :)._

 _Also!(the following does not pertain to the chapter in any way shape or form so if that doesn't interest you you can skip this!)This is something I've been thinking about recently and thought I'd pose the question here. I've recently been introduced to the concept of commissioning stories by an acquaintance of mine. Essentially from my understanding the party responsible for the commission tells the writer (that's me!) what they want from a story, the concept, who the story will focus on, what the romances and other important plot elements will be, etc. (This can apply for a one shot if that's all you desire.) Then they agree to a payment per each chapter and the required length to be acceptable (it certainly wouldn't be fair if I dropped a 1000 word chapter on someone and was like "that'll be 20 bucks" XD) Also! Keep in mind that in no way am I expecting any money from_ _ **this**_ _fanfic. This fanfic will remain just a project I work on for fun and by no means am I planning on abandoning it. I just thought I might throw out the offer to one of you who might want to see one of your fanfiction ideas brought to life by the one, the only, the RoxaShadow! (insert cheers here!) Anyhow, if you are interested in setting up a commision with me please PM me your story idea (I'll disclose if the characters/ fandom's associated are ones I'm familiar with or at least can familiarize myself with relatively quickly) and we can discuss the further details! Again! This is only for those interested! Please ignore for those of you who are only interested in TNOR! XD._

Hello my fellow readers! Nice to see you all again! Sorry it took a little while for this chapter to get updated. As RoxaShadow said, there needed to be some character exploration for this chapter since Namine was exploring Roxas's memories. I also thought that Xion deserved to have some spotlight for this chapter since the poor girl had already been through enough crap that the universe threw at her. Let me tell you, it was NOT easy reading through that particular memory Roxas had of her, I could barely read the words because my eyes were sweating. Listening to Xion's theme while reading that memory and seeing that beautiful heart to heart moment between Namine and Xion nearly destroyed me T_T But! I was able to get through and fix the spelling and grammar errors, although I almost wanted to stop when we had to say goodbye to our favorite girl. I'm still gonna hang onto that hope to bring Xion back, even if it takes forever. Anyway...RoxaShadow was able to keep part of his promise, so at least you all got to see him arrive to the dance with Weiss Schnee. You'll see more of the dance, he and I will promise you that. Just be patient for a little while longer. Oh, and just so you know he and I sort of agreed to do another omake for the next chapter. Originally, we were gonna post one for this chapter, but after going through memory lane and ending this chapter with the beginning of the dance even, we figured it might not be a proper timing so I apologize to those who were looking forward to it. There will be one for the next chapter, I promise! Other than that, that's all I got to say so thank you all for your support on this story and our great author and I'll see you all in the next chapter ;D


	36. Chapter 35-5: A Surprise

_**AN:**_ _Just a brief explanation to this chapter! This is considered a 'Bonus Chapter' for those of you who've been wanting more of Roxas interacting with the characters of Remnant. Technically it does not follow the canon story as the canon chapter is taking a lot longer to complete than I thought, so we thought it might help to release something in the wait. This is a chapter dedicated to a concept that many of you have suggested in the past, so I hope you all enjoy chapter 35.5!_

* * *

Roxas yawned as his tired arms pushed himself up and away from the warmth of his bed. The back of his hand rubbed against his eye as he looked out the window next to his bedside.

 _Still dark out…_

His weary eyes lazily examined the room. The lights were off making it difficult for him to see, but he could tell nothing amiss from what he could.

 _What woke me up…?_ the boy questioned to himself for a moment.

After a few more seconds of tired wonder, the teen shrugged and laid back down, wrapping himself back into his blankets in the process.

A moment later he heard a noise that made his eyes open again. Lifting his head, he turned towards the door where he could hear the subtle creaks of someone standing just outside the door alongside the sounds of muffled whispers. The boy immediately sat up in worry as he eyed the door, confused. He could see the shape of _someone_ standing just outside the doorway due to the hallway lights casting a shadow visible from the crack beneath the door.

Roxas immediately felt his heart begin to beat faster as he turned to look over at Weiss's and Namine's bed. The darkness of the room was making it difficult to distinguish their figures, but he could definitely make out the general shape of their sleeping forms wrapped beneath their blankets.

 _So, if it's not either of them…then who is it?_

His eyes were wide and nervous as he turned his attention back towards the crack between the doorway and the floor where he could now make out _multiple_ shadows lingering outside of the door. Roxas felt his body grow tense with anticipation. A nervous sweat ran down the side of his cheek as he slowly reached out and took his Oblivion resting against the night stand. Slowly, the boy slipped out of bed and began to approach the door, his weapon ready. He could still vaguely hear whispers and murmurs going on behind the door. He paused a moment to try and decipher the words but gave up upon realizing the door was preventing any intelligible amount of sound travel to his ears.

"Who's there!?" he called out aggressively trying to sound bigger than he knew he was. "I know someone's out there!" To his surprise, Weiss and Namine did not stir.

The voices on the other side immediately ceased in a hushed silence. Roxas cocked his head in surprise. He reached out taking the handle in one hand and readied his Keyblade in the other. He could tell by the shadow casting beneath the doorway that whoever was there was still there, lying in quiet wait for him to come out. The only person, well, the only _good_ person Roxas could predict coming to his room at this hour was perhaps Professor Ozpin, but if it had been him he would have said something by now. The only other could be his classmates, but it was too early in the morning for them to be up at this hour, and besides, they would just knock if it was them. By process of elimination Roxas concluded that whoever was on the other side of this door had ill intentions for either himself or his two friends currently resting in their beds behind him.

 _Alright, here we go…_

His hand swiftly unlocked the door before swinging it open in a single motion, readying his Keyblade to strike when-

"SURPRISE!"

Roxas staggered back in shock as what sounded like a mini orchestra composed entirely of trumpets erupted in front of him. The boy slipped as he stepped back, falling to his back as laughter began to fill the room.

The lights immediately flickered on, blinding the teen as he heard familiar voices laughing all around him. Blinking rapidly, the teen's eyes quickly adjusted to the bright light before he realized his friends were surrounding him, each with a strangely decorated cone strapped to the top of their heads with a thin string and many carrying a party horn which Roxas immediately deduced to be the cause for the explosion of noise he heard.

He saw Jaune reach out and offer a hand to pull him up, which the boy kindly accepted.

Once back on his feet, Roxas stared with furrowed brows at his friends standing all around him. He even saw Namine and Weiss in the group smiling at him. The teen whipped his head back towards their beds where he'd seen them, only to realize that the figures there were…just a tad too lumpy.

 _Pillows…_

He turned back towards the group.

 _But why?_

"Um, what's going on everyone?"

"Well!" Ruby said with a cheery expression. "We were talking to Namine the other day and the topic of birthdays came up!"

Namine blushed. "I, um, well I may have let it slip that we've never had a birthday…"

Roxas raised an eyebrow, did that mean that this was…

"Happy Birthday Roxas and Namine!" the group shouted in unison.

Before he knew what was happening he felt a party hat that read 'Birthday Boy' strap to his head. He saw a similar one fashioned to the top of Namine's head.

"Birthday...party?" Roxas mumbled under his breath as he saw the group begin to flood in with a cart of items. First was a cart that Ren pushed in with what appeared to be a paopu fruit made out of…paper mache? The strange looking item was lying next to a handful of small, child baseball bats. Below the cart in a cavity covered by a cloth flooded out a sea of colorful balloons which all slowly flooded to the ceiling upon release, littering the space above their heads with a vibrant mismatch of spheres.

Ren quickly turned his head towards Nora who was currently eyeing one of the balloons above her head with a glisen in her eye.

Speaking in a tone a parent would use with a child he said, "Now Nora, these balloons are for _everyone_ , not just you. So you can't go around popping them all okay?"

Nora's eyes grew wide like a child who'd just been caught with their hand in the cookie jar. "What? Of course I know that! Pffft, who do you take me for? Ruby?"

"Hey!" Ruby called out in offense from across the room as she began to set up the party streamers.

Ren gave his teammate a knowing look. "Nora, I know you. You know I know you, and we both know what you're thinking about doing right now."

Nora did her best to adopt an innocent expression. "You know the _old_ me, the immature, childish me. But this," she motioned to herself with two thumbs. "Is _young adult_ me, you know, the calm, sophisticated Nora with a more mature outlook on life."

Ren's eyebrows raised in a fashion that said 'Is that so?'

Nora crossed her arms. "Just you wait, I'll show you." She pointed up towards the ceiling "Not a single balloon will pop by my hand, promise."

A thin smile pulled at Ren's lips. "Good." He immediately turned back around to face his cart. The young man picked up the paopu fruit before finding a small hook and attaching it to a set of strings meant to support the-

 _ **POP!**_

Ren immediately spun on his heel to find Nora with her eyes wide and her hands behind her back.

"Wasn't me!" she quickly spat out.

Ren's eyes narrowed, looking the girl up and down before noticing her hands firmly placed behind her back.

"...Show me your hands…" he spoke very calmly, slowly moving towards the girl.

Large beads of sweat began to roll down the side of her face as Ren came closer. When the boy was standing just a foot away, his head beginning to veer over her shoulder to examine the contents of her hands, she spun around and dashed away, dropping the remains of a bright pink balloon as she did so.

"You'll never catch me alive! Muahahaha! I am the balloon bandit!" she called out as she pulled down one of the balloons by its string and squashed it between her hands before a loud _**POP**_ echoed throughout the room.

"Quickly!" Ren announced with urgency as he began to chase after the girl. "Catch her before she gets to all the balloons!"

"You'll have to kill me for I am the unstoppable balloon bandit! Muahahahaha!" Nora called out in an intentionally cliche cowboy voice.

Roxas watched in bewilderment seeing Pyrrha, Yang, and Jaune all give chase as the girl continued to run around the room rapidly pulling down balloons and popping them. The boy slowly turned his attention to his right where he saw Ruby standing atop a step ladder attaching streamers to the wall. He could see Namine standing beside the girl, laughing as the two girls continued to talk.

"...Wait…" Roxas stammered a realization hitting him. While he was new to the prospects of a 'birthday party' he _did_ understand the concept of a 'surprise'. The boy quickly walked up to Namine.

"Oh! Hello fellow birthday boy!...Er, well I guess I'm a girl." she stammered rubbing the back of her head.

"Why was I the only one who was surprised? Shouldn't you have been surprised with me?"

"Well that was the plan at first," Ruby began to explain from above them. "But Weiss wasn't quiet enough when she woke up so Namine woke up with her." Roxas looked up as Ruby began to talk before his eyes widened and a blush covered his face. His head quickly averted down as he hadn't realized that Ruby's skirt had been positioned directly above him.

Seemingly not noticing Ruby continued, "We didn't want to have to reset everything, so Namine agreed to help us surprise you!...Aaaand, there!" she said pinning up the last of the party streamers. "How does it look?" she asked cheerfully as she looked down towards the two former Nobodies.

Ruby raised an eyebrow in confusion as she noticed the bright red tint on Roxas's cheeks, his gaze firmly affixed to the ground.

"What's wrong? You okay?" she asked as she began to step down from the ladder, in the middle of one of her steps however, she froze, her eyes growing wide.

 _I was on a step ladder…in my battle skirt…with Roxas directly below me...talking…_

Putting two and two together, a bright flush raced through her features before she quickly turned away and began to walk back towards the door stammering, "More stuff to grab talk to you later bye!"

Just then there was a loud _THUMP_ as Nora was taken down by Pyrrha having wrapped her arms around the girl's legs.

"I got her!" Pyrrha cheered triumphantly. "Now someone tie her up before she can get away!"

"On it!" Jaune called out as the boy quickly produced a rope from one of the carts. Roxas momentarily questioned why they'd brought a _rope_ to this birthday party as Jaune swiftly began to wrap the rope around the girl's arms.

"No! Release me you party poopers! There are still balloons that need to be popped!" Nora hissed doing her best to attempt to wiggle free but failing.

Namine and Roxas each slowly began to laugh at the display before a noise caught their attention. From the doorway they could hear the sound of squeaky wheels straining to support whatever they were carrying. The two former Nobodies turned to look when their eyes widened. Both Ruby and Weiss were straining to push in a cart which had on top of it the largest cake either of them had ever seen. So large in fact, that despite the cart carrying it only lifting the desert a couple feet off the ground, it managed to only _barely_ slip beneath the top of the doorframe unscathed.

Once the two girls had managed to push it towards the side of the room where the other carts had been situated, they each slumped to the ground in exhaustion.

"Why, _gasp,_ why is it so _big_?" Ruby managed to get out staring at Weiss for an answer. The cake was a pure snow white with an immaculate design executed with red frosting and sugar sprinkles

Weiss scowled, also taking deep breaths. "I, _gasp,_ I wanted it to be special! It's Roxas's and Namine's first birthday after all!"

Ruby opened her mouth to retort before pausing and thinking about it. "You know what?" She smiled. "You're right!" The girl pushed herself to her feet before offering a hand to help Weiss up.

"So!" Ruby shouted thrusting a fist into the air. "Let's make this a night to remember!"

* * *

The first game of the night had been described to Roxas and Namine as 'Pin the Tail on the Donkey'.

"Basically," Blake began motioning to a large donkey picture on the wall. "The objective is to take this," she handed a sharp pin with a tail attached to the boy. "And pin it to where it's supposed to be on the donkey."

Roxas raised an eyebrow "That doesn't seem so hard." He began to walk over towards the picture when Blake's hand shot out and stopped him, he could see a faint smile on the girl's lips.

"It isn't, well, not when you can see that is." She gave a devious grin before without warning a blindfold was wrapped around his eyes from behind.

"What the-!" he stammered as Weiss struggled to tie it from behind him.

"Hold still! I'm trying to get this on right!" she complained leading Roxas to stop squirming.

"Alright, there. You're ready." She smiled gently placing two hands on his back and pushing him forward.

Roxas slowly began to approach the donkey, pushing his hands out in front of him so that he wouldn't run into anything.

 _So the rules to this game are to give a blindfolded person a sharp object and tell them to pin it to something they can't see. That seems...dangerous._

Roxas shrugged deciding that they probably knew something that he didn't given they'd played this game before and slowly continued forward.

The group of friends all gathered around the picture, stifling their collective laughter as the blindfolded boy continued to stumble his way towards the donkey. Pyrrha who was standing next to Jaune leaned towards the boy. "This was a really great idea Jaune. Thanks for planning it out for us, you're the best."

Jaune smiled as he turned his head towards her. "It was nothing really, when you guys told me you wanted to host a party for the two of them...well it just felt like I needed to make it right."

"Well you certainly did. Everyone seems to be having a great time…hold on…!" Pyrrha's eyes narrowed as her head whipped back and forth. "Where did Nora go!?"

Jaune's eyes grew big with equal concern, turning his back from the game as he too began to search for Nora's whereabouts. They tied the girl up and let her stand with the group to watch the game as it continued. She had originally been standing next to Pyrrha, but now she was gone.

Pyrrha's eyes widened as she pointed towards the other side of the room. "She's making a break for the cake!"

Jaune's head whipped around, his expression panicked as he saw Nora slowly scooting across the room towards the delectable dessert. Her mouth was open with a slim line of drool running down the corner of her mouth as she continued to crawl towards her goal.

"Crap! Quick! We have to get to her before she gets to the-" Just as Jaune turned to chase after the girl he felt something…

 _ **Sharp**_

Stab directly into his rear.

Reacting purely on instinct the boy shot into the air, a donkey tail firmly affixed to his butt.

"Did I get it…?" Roxas mumbled as he pulled the blindfold off his head, only to see Jaune dangling from the ceiling where his head pierced through.

"Uh oh…" he quietly mumbled as the group desperately attempted to help pull the boy back down to the ground.

The teen heard Weiss's sharp voice call out, "Hey!" Turning his head to see Weiss beginning to approach the cake where Nora had already began to bite at a corner piece. The tied up girl turned sharply towards Weiss, frosting and cake debris crumbling from her face as Weiss continued to storm towards her.

"That's for later Nora!" Weiss snapped as she grabbed the girl's ankle and slowly began to drag the girl back towards the group.

"Noooooo...!" Nora bellowed as she was pulled away from the delicious treat that was the birthday cake.

* * *

Once the tail had been removed from Jaune's rear and the cake removed from Nora's face, the group decided that it might be best that they move onto the next game. "Alright guys! It's time to whack the pinata!" As Yang was shouting the announcement she pulled the strings attached to the paopu fruit pinata and tied them to the nearest bedpost. Namine eyed at the fruit star shaped paper mache questioningly until Yang spoke again.

"For this game you use this," she handed Namine one of the bats as she was explaining the objective of the game. "And whack it a few times to get the candy out. Like the previous game, you gotta do it while blindfolded." Namine stared at the bat in her hands and then at Yang with uncertainty, "But won't someone get hurt if we do that?" Before Yang could answer her question Ruby abruptly came into their conversation while wrapping the blindfold behind the startled blonde girl.

"What? Nah! It's completely safe I guarantee it!" As she finished tying the blindfold she gently guided Namine to a nearby desk chair and spun her four times before commenting with a mischievous tone, "But it's more fun when you're a little disoriented!"

Namine stumbled left to right from her dizziness while hearing quiet laughter from her friends. Once she found her balance, she slowly waved the bat side to side as a guide to find the pinata until a soft hollow _THUMP_ perked her ears. She tapped the object with her bat a few times and smirked in determination before letting a "Eyah!" escape from her lips and started to whack the paper mache with all her strength. After several attempts to bash the star shaped fruit Namine stopped her swings and removed her blindfold to see how well she did. She blinked a fews times to adjust to the sudden lighting before looking up and smiling to see that she managed to make an impressive dent on the pinata based on the few holes she left on it.

"Whoo hoo! Nice job Namine!" Yang shouted as she and the rest of the group clapped to her efforts. Namine's cheeks turned tint red and a sheepish smile grew on her face as she curtsied to her audience as a 'thank you'.

"Alrighty! Looks like your next birthday boy!" Yang spoke as she handed a bat to Roxas. However, as Ruby put the blindfold on Roxas and prepared to spin him on the chair, she as well as everyone failed to realize that Nora had successfully slipped out of her restraints. Without warning, she popped into view wearing a blindfold and holding her mallet much to everyone's horror.

"Don't worry everybody! I'll get that candy out!" Nora determinedly shouted with a wide grin pulling on the corners of her lips.

"NO NORA DON-!" Before Ren could finish his sentence, Nora swung her mighty mallet in a wild furry as a crazed battle roar escaped from her lips. Roxas pulled his blindfold off to see before his eyes grew wide in shock watching Nora smash through the furniture and walls. Ren, Pyrrha and Jaune frantically surrounded her to stop her rampage but she whacked them one by one, sending them flying across the room. Roxas couldn't help but wince as he heard each of them crash into the wall and leave their indents in the wall as they slid down groaning in pain and losing consciousness.

Without warning, Nora appeared before him and raised her mallet ready to strike. Roxas's eyes widened in horror as he assumed his fate was sealed, but just as the mallet was mere inches from his face a sudden red blur came into view and pushed him out of harm's way. After hearing the loud _SMASH_ of the chair, Roxas's eyes opened to see that he was indeed still intact, but also to find Ruby on top of him.

"Thank goodness I made it in time! You okay Roxas?!" Ruby asked with concern laced in her words as she eyed the boy worryingly.

Roxas released a nervous chuckle before responding, "Y-yeah, I think so. Thanks for saving me Ruby. Uh...would it be alright if I could get up now?" Ruby scrunched her eyebrows for moment unsure why Roxas would ask her that until her eyes widened and her face became red from the realization that she was sitting right on top of him.

"Oh! Uh-yeah, sorry!" Before Roxas knew it, she pushed herself to her feet while looking away with a flustered expression. Just as Roxas lifted himself off the floor and was about say his thanks, he heard another _SMASH_ and snapped his head in the direction of the sound to see that Nora had successfully destroyed the pinata, releasing the candy contents within it. However, unaware that she'd already achieved the objective of the game, Nora continued to swing her mallet around until she was in front of the cake.

Just as she raised her mallet and was ready to strike the cake, Roxas heard Weiss scream, "NOOOO! NOT THE CAKE!" She along with Yang, Blake, and Ruby dogpiled on Nora and succeeded to restrain her before she could cause anymore mayhem.

* * *

"Alright!" Jaune exclaimed once the last pieces of candy had been picked off the ground and the debris from Nora's rampage swept away. "Lets try and make sure that this next game isn't a bust!"

There was a collective nod from the group as Nora struggled against her new set of ropes pinning her arms to the sides of her torso.

Roxas watched with a raised eyebrow as Pyrrha set out a number of chairs facing outward and forming a circle.

"The objective of this game is relatively simple." Weiss explained standing in front of the group. "Music will play prompting all of us to walk in a circle around the chairs, Pyrrha has volunteered to operate the radio-"

"Hello!" Pyrrha waved with a smile standing next to a simple looking radio resting on one of the carts.

"-and thus will be the one determining when the music stops and plays. When the music stops, players will attempt to secure a seat as fast as they can. The player who does not is eliminated from the game. You'll notice that the number of chairs arranged before all of you is one less than the current number of players present, meaning that every round will result in an elimination." Weiss spoke matter-of-factly, raising one finger in the air to make a point. "The last player remaining will win the first slice of cake alongside the opportunity to select the first present for both Roxas and Namine."

The girl promptly shifted her attention to Roxas and Namine as she continued, "In the event that either of you win, you will be allowed to select your first present." she smiled sweetly.

"Enough instructions!" Yang complained moving towards the chairs. "Let's get started already!"

Not moments after Roxas found himself in a line consisting of Yang, Ruby, Jaune, Ren, Blake, Weiss, Namine, and then finally himself.

"Are you all ready?" Pyrrha asked with a bright smile.

"Yeah!" cheered Yang and Ruby in unison.

"Alright! Here we go!" the young Amazon said pressing down the _play_ button.

The room filled with the sound of an electric guitar keeping beat with a set of drums, prompting the line of students to move forward. Roxas felt a bead of sweat collect on his brow. He's never been in a competition like _this_ before.

" _ **They see you as small and helpless**_

 _ **They see you as just a child.**_

 _ **Surprise when they find out that a warrior will soon run wild.**_

 _ **Prepare for your greatest moments**_

 _ **Prepare for your finest hour.**_

 _ **The dream that you've always dreamed is suddenly about to-**_ "

The music immediately cut out and Roxas's eyes grew wide as he saw movement from the others all dashing for the chairs.

 _Crap!_ he thought to himself. _I wasn't paying enough attention!_

The boy turned on his heel and darted for the chairs. His eyes widened as he noticed that all the chairs but one had already been claimed.

 _I've gotta move quick!_ he thought to himself as he raced for the seat, before turning mid sprint and sitting down in a rapid blur of speed. A relieved sigh escaped his lips as he rested in the chair between Yang and Ruby.

"Aw come on! You're all way too fast!" Jaune's voice complained.

"Sorry Jaune," Ruby gave the boy a sympathetic smile. "Maybe next time?"

Jaune's shoulders slumped. "Yeah yeah I know. I just didn't want to be the first one eliminated is all." he mumbled as he walked over next to Pyrrha who gave the defeated young man a pat on the back for his efforts.

"Alright! Everyone!" Yang announced. "Butts up! Time to go another round!"

Roxas rose from his seat quietly thinking to himself, _I'll have to be more focused for this next round. I got lucky last time, if I don't pay attention, I might not be so lucky this time._

Roxas adopted a serious expression as he watched one of the chairs be removed, and the music started up again.

" _**-flower.**_

 _ **We are lightning**_

 _ **Straying from the thunder**_

 _ **Miracles of ancient wonder.**_

 _ **This will be the day we've waited for.**_ "

Roxas eyed each chair with a level of intensity mirroring that of a lion eyeing its prey. His mind raced as he did his best to predict when the music might stop.

 _If she follows the same pattern she did before then the music should stop right about…_

 _ **This will be the day we open up the door.**_

 _ **I don't wanna hear your absolution**_

 _ **Hope your ready for a revolution.**_

 _ **Welcome to a world of new solutions.**_

 _ **Welcome to a world of bloody evolution.**_

 _ **In time, your heart will**_

 _Now!_

 _ **Open-**_ "

The music stopped just as Roxas turned on his heels and shot forward. This time he was the first one in a seat as the others all scrambled to find a remaining seat.

"Ah, I thought I would last a little longer than this." Ren shrugged. "Oh well, guess I'm out this time." the young man said before walking over to where Nora was still struggling against her bindings. She'd gotten a bit of rope between her teeth now, and she was _chewing_.

"Next round!" Yang cheered as the group all sat up before a seat was removed and the music started up again.

Roxas began to feel he'd gotten a decent grasp on the game as the music started again.

" _ **minds**_

 _ **A story will be told**_

 _ **And victory is in a simple soul.**_

 _ **Your world needs a great defender.**_

 _ **Your world's in the way of harm.**_

 _ **You want a romantic life; a fairytale**_ "

 _If she follows the same pattern as last time, then that means I have a few more lines until it-_

" _ **that's full of-**_ "

Much to the boy's surprise, the music came to an abrupt halt. Shocked, Roxas hesitated a second longer than he predicted he would have had he predicted the timing right.

 _Shoot!_ he scowled in frustration. _She changed up the timing!_

He shot towards the chairs a second after everyone else, once again forced to race to the last remaining chair only _barely_ reaching it before Yang.

Roxas let his head lay back against the chair in relief.

 _That was close,_ he thought to himself as Yang shouted, pointing at Blake.

"She cheated! She used her semblance to make a clone move into the chair so that I would think it was taken and would go for another one!"  
A devious smile was resting on Blake's lips as she retorted, "No one ever said that we _couldn't_ use our semblances."

Yang paused, her arms crossed and giving the girl a dirty look. After a second longer, the blonde sighed and dropped her arms to her side. "Yeah I guess you're right there, good thinking Blake."

The girl in black simply nodded in response, a thin smile still spread from her lips.

Yang walked over to Pyrrha and Jaune "Alright everyone!" she announced. "Butts back up! Round four!"

Roxas decided his strategy would be to watch for when Pyrrha's hand turned off the music. Sure, it meant he would be unaware of the available seats, but at least he wouldn't be behind everyone else when he went for the chairs. For a moment he questioned to himself why he was taking this game so seriously, it was in fact a _party_ game, and the stakes weren't particularly high.

 _The whole point to a game…is to win it, isn't it?_

He concluded that this fact was true, and continued to meticulously plan for his next move, catching a devious grin on Ruby's face out of the corner of his eye.

The music continued.

" _ **-Charm.**_

 _ **Beware that the light is fading**_

 _ **Beware if the dark returns.**_

 _ **This world's unforgiving, even brilliant lights will cease to burn.**_

 _ **Legends scatter.**_

 _ **Day and night will sever.**_

 _ **Hope and peace are lost forever.**_

 _ **This will be the day we've waited**_ -"

The moment Roxas saw Pyrrha's hand depressed his feet moved forward, whipping his head around he began to scan for an available chair. To his surprise, three of the four chairs had already been taken by Weiss, Ruby, and Blake, leaving the fourth and final chair for him and Namine to race towards. The two darted for the chair, bumping into each other in the process as they each came inches from the seat…

.

.

.

!  
"Aw shoot! I was hoping I'd win it!"

Namine complained before sighing, "Guess I'm not as fast as you guys are."

"Sorry Namine!" Weiss exclaimed with a frown. "I just really want you to open my present first is all."

Namine smiled in response as she moved to the side with the others.

"Alright guys! We're getting to the final members!" Yang cheered with a bright smile, a fake microphone in her hand. "Let's do this!"

Roxas felt beads of sweat rolling down the sides of his face as he rose again and began to walk around the chairs in time with the music.

 _How are they moving so fast? They were there in less than a blink of an eye!_

" _ **-For.**_

 _ **We are lightning.**_

 _It makes sense that Ruby would get there so quick, her semblance is literally speed, but how did Blake and Weiss-_

Just as he thought this he looked down and noticed as Weiss walked white speed glyphs appeared beneath each shoe.

 _ **Welcome to a world of new solutions.**_

 _ **This will be the day we've waited for.**_

 _So that's how she's moving so fast! Shoot! I'm starting to think I'm at a severe disadvantage here. So that explains Weiss and Ruby, but how is Blake-_

 _ **This will be the day we open up the door**_ -"

Just as the music cut out Roxas's eyes lit up with understanding. Having been watching Pyrrha for when she pressed the button, the boy whipped his head around, his feet moving as fast as they could. Just like before, he saw that all three remaining seats had been taken.

Rather than give up, however, the boy made a bee line for Blake's chair.

 _This is going to be really awkward if I'm wrong!_ he thought to himself as he shot into the chair, momentarily tipping to the side before correcting himself and sitting upright. He was breathing heavily, and Blake was standing before him, her eyes wide with shock.

"How…how did you know that was a clone and not me…?"

Roxas grinned, wiping the sweat that had built on his brow. "I didn't, I took a gamble admittedly."

An impressed smile rose from Blake's cheeks. "Wow, good job. You figured me out."

Roxas smiled as the girl walked off to the side.

"Whooo!" Yang cheered, using one of the put aside chairs to step on as she announced, "It looks like things are heating up! We are down to our final three contestants! Only two chairs left! Lets see who makes it to the grand finals to this epic showdown of musical chairs!"

Roxas nervously rose from his seat as his mind raced as to what he was supposed to do now just as the music started back up.

" _ **I don't wanna hear your absolution**_

 _There's no way I can outspeed them with the way I'm playing. Both of their semblances are too good at this!_

 _ **Hope you're ready for a revolution.**_

 _Think Roxas think! If you can't outspeed them, what else can you do that might give you an edge?_

 _ **Welcome to a world of new solutions.**_

Roxas's brow was furrowed in a deep focus as he combed his mind searching for some sort of advantage _._ He'd nearly given up when an _image_ popped into his head. The boy immediately went bright red as he thought, _I sure hope this works...and that she forgives me..._

 _ **Welcome to a world of bloody evolution-**_ "

Just as the music came to a close, Roxas leaned forward towards where Ruby was preparing her semblance to dash towards the chairs. The boy brought his lips inches from the girl's ears and whispered four distinct words.

Immediately, Ruby's eyes grew like ovals, her face turning a bright red. Her hands immediately rushed to her cheeks as she stood frozen in place.

"AAAAndd! It seems that Weiss and Roxas make it to the final round!" Yang announced. "I'll be honest folks I did _not_ see that coming!"

The flush in Ruby's cheeks remained as the girl spun on her heel and shot Roxas a dirty look. The boy gave his best apologetic expression and mouthed the words 'I'm sorry' as he did so. Ruby turned on her heel and stomped away towards the rest of the group.

Namine leaned in next to Ruby, whispering as she said, "Hey, why'd you freeze like that? You were the fastest one out there. It's like you didn't even try that last round."

Ruby averted her gaze to the ground. "...It was something he said…"

Namine raised an eyebrow at this. "What'd he say?"

Ruby's blush deepened. "...Do you promise not to tell anyone?"

Namine shot the girl a strange look but slowly nodded. Ruby leaned in, cupping her mouth as she brought her lips to the girl's ears.

" **White with pink stripes**."

Namie's eyebrows knitted together in confusion, her eyes narrowed to slits before widening with realization. Her cheeks became a similar shade of red to Ruby's as Yang announced, "Alright now! It looks like we're down to the final two! The boy wonder who can seemingly do anything and the ice queen herself-"

"Hey!"

"Let's get to it! Pyrrha! Hit that track!" Yang cheered throwing a fist into the air.

"On it!" Pyrrha cheered matching her energy as her finger pushed down on the button.

Weiss looked over her shoulder as Roxas slowly followed her, the two of them wrapping around the lone chair. "I know you're the birthday boy and all, but I hope you realize that's not going to mean I simply give up. I want you to open my present first, so that means I have to win this."

" _ **In time, your heart will open minds**_

 _I've only got one last trick up my sleeve._

 _ **A story will be told**_

Roxas began to step closely behind the girl, watching her glyphs as they formed beneath each foot.

 _ **That victory is in a simple soul.**_ "

As the song ended, he saw Weiss turn heel and dart for the chair. Just as she was doing this however, he too shot out a foot, placing one on her still active glyph and shooting after the girl at a matched speed. The room gasped as the two neared the chair and…

.

.

.

!

Roxas found himself lying sprawled out on the ground, a sharp pain erupting from the side of his head. Looking up, he could see Weiss staring down at him with a look of concern on her face.

The boy slowly sat up. "What just happened?"

"You dove for the chair and hit the edge with your face!" Yang said bluntly.

"Oh…" Roxas mumbled rubbing the bump on his head. Turning, he saw that Weiss had in fact taken the final chair.

Roxas sighed, his shoulders slumping. "I guess…I lost."

The room was quiet for a few moments. The rest of the party all staring at Roxas's seemingly defeated form before a grin slowly began to split the boy's face.

Soon, he was holding his stomach laughing. "I took that _way_ too seriously! Hahaha!" In only a few seconds Yang cracked a smile, and then Ruby, and then Weiss. Soon enough, the whole room erupted into laughter.

* * *

"Okay guys! It's finally cake time!" Ruby announced as Jaune and Ren pushed the cart carrying the colossus cake to the middle of the room with grunts escaping from their lips. Once the cart was set in place the boys collapsed onto the floor from exhaustion. Pyrrha placed two candles on the low section of the cake and lit them.

"Alright," Weiss spoke as she gently pushed the Nobody twins towards the center of the cake. "Let's get you two settled right over _here_. Everybody ready?" She looked around everyone who nodded collectively. Before Roxas and Namine could ask what they were supposed to be ready for everyone began to sing.

" _ **Happy Birthday to you!**_

 _ **Happy Birthday to you!**_

 _ **Happy Birthday dear Roxas and Namine~!**_

 _ **Happy Birthday to you!"**_

Everyone clapped and cheered after the last verse leaving the Nobodies to look around confused and unsure of what was supposed to happen next until Yang shouted with a grin on her face, "Blow out the candles, you two! Oh, but be sure to make a wish before you do! It might come true!"

"A wish? But...what do we wish for?" Namine asked while Roxas raised an eyebrow as his way to reiterate her question until Ruby answered, "You can wish for anything, silly! Go with what your hearts' desire!"

"What our...hearts' desire?" Roxas hesitantly repeated and Ruby nodded her head. The twins closed their eyes to momentarily think of their wish until they opened them and glanced at each other with wide smiles slowly growing on their faces. Without hesitation, they turned their attention back to the cake and blew out the candles.

As everyone gave another round of applause Ren cut the bottom sheet of the cake and began passing out slices to everyone. The Nobody twins received theirs first, then Weiss since she won the previous game, and then to the next person in line. Once everyone enjoyed their delectable slice of cake, especially Nora who had to remain restrained in the ropes to prevent her from causing more trouble, the time came for Roxas and Namine to open their presents.

Weiss approached the two with a relatively simple sized box. The girl reached out and offered the object to Roxas before handing a similarly sized gift to Namine. The two Nobodies shot curious glances towards one another before returning their attention towards Weiss who continued staring at them expectantly.

"Well?" she said with a raised eyebrow.

"...Well?" Roxas repeated with clear confusion in his voice.

"Open it already will you?" Weiss complained as she motioned with one hand towards the boxes.

Roxas and Namine turned to each other before sharing a combined 'ohhh' moment. Without hesitation their hands began to tear into the wrapping paper and through the underlying box. A few moments later, Roxas had a checkered black and grey patterned scarf with red lining in his hands. Contrastly Namine held in her hands a silver chain necklace with a simply designed sea salt ice cream hanging upside down in the center.

The two smiled as they placed the gifts around their necks. To Roxas's delight, the fabric was surprisingly soft against his neck while still providing a suitable amount of warmth. Namine found the metal of the chain strong and smooth to the point that she hardly felt it as it rested against her collar bone.

"Thanks Weiss!" Namine exclaimed excitedly as she studied the necklace around her neck. Weiss beamed at her appreciation.

Roxas bore a steadfast grin across his features as he said, "Thank you Weiss, it's really nice."

Weiss's smile spread wider as Yang pushed to the front of the group, two presents in hand. "Me next! Me next!"

Complying the Nobody twins set to work tearing apart the wrapping paper around her presents only to be presented with something they'd never encountered before.

"Uhh…" Roxas muttered under his breath trying his best to figure out exactly what he was looking at. To him it resembled a skateboard but without any wheels.

"Um…" Namine began quietly. "What is it exactly?"

The look of Yang's visible disbelief left the duo in a state of embarrassment as she said, "They're hoverboards guys! They're awesome!"

.

.

.

Not long after Namine sent herself crashing out of the window and Roxas made a human shaped indent on the wall, the group decided that it might be best if they moved onto the next set of gifts.

Blake silently approached the Nobodies with a thin smile and presented each of them a rectangular shaped object wrapped in simple green with a red bow on the middle. As they humbly accepted their gifts and unwrapped them, both of them discovered that their present was a book.

Namine squealed in joy with a twinkle in her eyes as she presented the book to the crowd titled _The Scarlet Letter_. She spoke with excitement, "Oh thank you Blake! How did you find this book?! I've searched high and low for this novel, but there wasn't a single library or bookstore that had it!"

"I have my ways." Blake commented with a sly grin on her face as she winked at the blonde girl.

Roxas couldn't help but cast a curious gaze at his book _The Wandering Warrior_ before being snapped out of his stupor by Blake's explanation, "It's about a strong warrior traveling around the world to find his self value and purpose in life. He meets many people who help him on his journey. Sound familiar?"

A thin smile pulled on the corners of the boy's lips as he said, "Heh, probably. Thanks Blake. I'll be looking forward to reading this tonight."

Blake beamed back to the boy as her way of saying 'you're welcome' before turning back to join the group.

Nora cheerfully approached the set of twins with one box in either hand. Extending both hands out one to each twin she exclaimed, "Enjoy!"

The moment the box left her hand Roxas felt his entire body shift to accommodate the weight of the box. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Namine get pulled to the ground from the weight.

"W-What's in here?" she asked in a quiet daze. "It feels like it weighs a ton!"

"Only a hundred-fifty pounds actually!" Nora happily corrected. "I thought I should give each of you a small section of my own personal workout routine! So I set in some dumbbells for each of you to train those muscles when you get the chance!"

Namine and Roxas each shot each other a concerned glance before turning back to Nora and saying in unison, "Thank you Nora!"

The girl beamed in response as she turned around and returned to the rest of the group before leaning over towards Ren and whispering loudly, "Try and beat _that_!"

Ren could not help but roll his eyes and slightly shake his head as he approached Roxas and Namine and said with a soft smile on his face, "Happy Birthday you two." He handed each of them a strangely shaped yet extraordinarily soft gift, which they unwrapped to discover that they're pillows.

"I know that a lot has happened lately, so I thought that these could help you sleep better at night. I own one myself so I know it helps me at night after a long day." He couldn't help but glance at Nora from that last comment like a parent who looks at their child when they know they're trouble makers. Nora crossed her arms with a ' _hmph_ ' before sticking her tongue out at him as her retaliation.

Roxas examined his gift in silence until he slowly looked at Ren and spoke with a sincere smile growing on his face, "Wow...this is really soft. Thanks Ren, I'm sure this will help me sleep better from now on, so I'll definitely give it a try the next night."

Namine also had a sincere smile planted on her face and nodded as her reciprocation to Roxas's gratitude to Ren's gift.

"Okay, my turn!" Jaune said with determination in his voice as he handed the twins a single wrapped box. As they opened the gift together, they looked at the surprise questioningly as the front of the box read **Compost King**.

"You play as a farmer collecting organic scraps for your compost heap. Whoever gets the biggest pile becomes the Compost King!" Jaune explained with excitement in his tone. "And get this! It plays in real time, so the game can last for hours or even days! Pretty cool huh?"

Both Roxas and Namine looked at their present with uncertainty for they could not find the right words to say to Jaune for giving them such an... _interesting_ game. Regardless, it was the thought that counted so Roxas spoke for the both of them, "That sounds, um...fun Jaune. We'll give it a try when we have the time. Thank you for the game."

As the older blond boy grinned in satisfaction for the response Prryha approached next to him and said, "Sorry. Is it alright if can I go next now?"

Jaune nodded and the young Amazon smiled as her way of saying 'thank you' until she faced the Nobodies with her hands behind her back. Before they could ask her what she was hiding, she beat them to the punch by saying, "Alright you two. I need you to close your eyes and take out your hands with an open palm."

Both of them tilted their heads and gave the redhead curious glances, but complied and did as she asked them. A few moments went by when the touching sensations on their hands felt something soft and light. They scrunched their eyebrows in wonder on what it was they were holding until Prryha spoke in anticipation, "Okay! Now you can open them!"

The moment Roxas and Namine complied to her instructions, their eyes slightly widened in surprise.

Before them sat two crochet dolls with a set of rather _distinctive_ features on the palm of their hands. Namine's was a doll with long blonde hair constructed of yarn which fell halfway down its back before stopping. It's head was larger than its body as it leaned against the side of her hand wearing a simple and yet familiar white dress. Its eyes were blue beads sewn onto its face.

Namine's eyes widened as she looked at the present, studying it with wonder. "Is this me!?" she exclaimed with a bright smile.

Meanwhile Roxas had reached out with his other hand to adjust his respective doll. Sitting lopsided in his hand was a doll of similar proportions with a head full of blond spikey hair and a set of blue beads for eyes. It's clothes merely consisted of an all black organization coat small enough to fit the doll's puny body.

Roxas raised an eyebrow as he stood there staring down at it. "They're…little figurines of us."

Prryha softly giggled as she said, "You could say that. They're mainly dolls that I hand made through crocheting. My mother taught me when I was little, although I never saw myself using the skill that often. But after hearing about celebrating your birthdays I thought that would be a good opportunity to use it for your gifts. Do you like them?" She looked at them with slight concern and fear in her eyes, worried that they would not like their gifts.

However, those feelings dissipated when both blondes looked at her with grins plastered on their faces and nodded their heads.

"They're really adorable, Prryha! I'll be sure to put it around my backpack! Thank you so much!" Namine said with excitement in her voice.

Prrhya beamed at them and turned around to return to the group.

Roxas and Namine turned as they watched Ruby approach them with a sheepish smile. "Um, my gift is a little different."

Roxas felt a smile pulling on his lips as he responded, "Don't worry, it's not like we'll know any different if it is a 'little different'."

Ruby flashed a smile at his comment before kneeling before the two Nobodies and gently setting the box on the ground. Her fingers gripped a simple red bow affixed to the top of the present before slowly pulling the ribbon free of the box.

Before Namine or Roxas could question exactly what she was doing, the present began to open by itself. Its walls began falling to either side with it's top dropping to the side revealing two lone figures standing upright, their faces bore smiles as they looked up towards the group of students hovering above them.

The first figure seemed to bear a close resemblance to that of Roxas, although his hair was black and his face failed to express the same youthfulness Roxas so often exemplified. With dark black bags resting below his eyes and what resembled a five o'clock shadow coating his chin and neck, it was clear that whatever doll company responsible for making this had messed up the design of Roxas. In place of his typical Organization coat the poorly constructed replica wore a baggy pink morning robe that touched the ground along with a set of fluffy looking trousers with a yellow mickey mouse design to them. In one of his hands rested a mug filled near to the brim with a brown substance. Written on the side of the mug was the simple message 'Who needs sleep?'.

The second figure was that of a slightly lean young female with light tan skin and dark brown hair tied with a band to form a ponytail that fell all the way to her back. Although there were faint black bags under the figure's eyes, they still had some energy behind them as well as an innocent smirk to compliment them. She wore what appeared to be just a simple black tank top with navy blue capri shorts and a pair of black and white patterned slide in sandals.

The first figure stepped forward revealing a set of blue sea salt ice cream slippers affixed to his feet and said, "Heya! Roxashadow here! Me and Shiloh just wanted to take the time to say a mighty big thank you to everyone who's stuck with us on this long...long journey. A few days ago marked the second year anniversary to the story and boy is that something to think about! I've been working on this story for two years now! That's crazy to think about! This story has grown past every expectation and the support has been more than I honestly deserve."

"Aw, don't be ridiculous! You deserve it as much as any good author does!" said the Shiloh figure before continuing. "Still amazing that I went from a simple reader to a beta reader for this amazing story. It's really fun to see what you've been planning for the story and it does feel good to be able to help out. But...there are times when I have to read **fifty times** to catch your mistakes!" she exclaimed while giving the RoxaShadow figurine a dirty look.

A sheepish grin crawled up the Roxashadow figurine's face. "Well that's just because I don't get a lot of sleep is all. If I did I probably wouldn't make a single mistake in my writing…"

"That's the problem! You go overboard and don't take care of yourself! And that's when I have to be the one to clean up your mess!" the Shiloh figurine shouted as she stomped to the taller male figure and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt shaking him.

"Hey hey! Watch the mug!" he complained while slowly bringing the mug to his lips, his head still bobbing left and right rapidly from being shaken.

"Besides," he added rolling around the drink in his mouth. "Sleep is for the weak."

Shiloh couldn't help but look at him in disbelief for a moment before face palming and sighing with defeat, "You really are impossible sometimes. This is what I have to go through folks!" She raised her arms in defeat and began to walk away.

"Hey! _Hey_! We have to finish this message to the audience! Where do you think you're going!?" he hollered after the girl.

"I'm gonna go find a nearby wine store to buy some sake to drink my woes and stresses away!"

"Pffft, what do you think is in this cup?-S _lurp-_ Yeah, that's the good stuff."

The Shiloh figure rolled her eyes and shook her head in annoyance before walking back and said, "Fine, but after this you're gonna buy me a drink."

"Pfft, what are you an alcoholic?" RoxaShadow said while raising the mug to his lips finishing his morning cup of whiskey. He frowned as he noticed the mug was empty. "...Fine. We'll find something."

Shiloh made a toothy grin to celebrate her small victory before facing back to the audience. "Well anyway folks, just as RoxasShadow here was saying, I wanna say thank you all for your support and kind words. I'll still be around to help out this guy!" she teased as she gave a hard pat on RoxaShadow's back before continuing. "So rest assured my good people! You shall be able to continue reading this amazing story with ease and _very little_ distractions from the spelling and grammar errors."

"...Not if I have anything to say about it…" the figurine murmured while raising the cup to take another pretend sip.

"Anyhow," he continued. "This chapter is just a small treat to you all as the canon chapter is in production. Currently thirty pages and counting aaaaand I've never been more tired. So after I feed this alcoholic her liquor, I plan to take a long, looooong, nap." Shoulders slumped and his feet dragging on the floor he slowly started to make his way off the cardboard stand.

"For the record, folks, this was my idea since I'm the one who had to remind _him_ about the second anniversary of this story." Shiloh said while pointing at RoxaShadow behind her with her thumb.

"Pffft, I don't remember dates…that's for people who can remember things past their lunch…" Looking over his shoulder he called out, "Now hurry it up! We need to get out of here so that the fourth wall doesn't shatter entirely and the characters can move forward thinking we're just a weird gift."

"Alright fine. Sheesh, no patience these days." Shiloh said while rolling her eyes. "Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. And I also hope you'll stay with us on this crazy roller coaster ride to the very end. Now you'll if you'll excuse us we'll be out having some drinks."

"Peace!"

Namine slowly raised he head looking to the rest of her classmates. "Uh...this is a weird gift right?"

Roxas nodded. "Yeah…although something outside of my control is telling me to simply write it off as a defective set of toys."

"Yeah me too," Ruby added

"Me too,"

"Me three,"

"Me four,"

"Huh…" Jaune murmured under his breath before clapping his hands together. "Who wants another slice of cake?"

"Yeah!"

.

.

.

* * *

 _ **AN:**_

 _No real Author's note here. This chapter was a collaboration with Shiloh with each of us writing out scenes and then looking over each other's work. We mostly got the idea for the chapter as a thank you for sticking around for so much, and a means to hold you off until I finally get to finishing the cannon chapter. I know many of you were expecting the real chapter which I assure you I am currently hard at work on. It's simply a matter of this chapter requiring the most attention in relation to the others. A document that's over 30 pages leaning towards 40 pages is no easy task to complete lol. Considering the most recent chapters all reach around 20-ish pages, it's safe to say that this one is the equivalent of 2 chapters if not more depending on how long the final scene of the chapter takes. So look forward to the next update being a mighty big one!_

 _Hey everyone! Shiloh here! I hope you all enjoyed this bonus chapter! I'm sorry this was a little late. We were originally gonna release it on THE day of the anniversary that this story was published, but...let's just say we bit off a little more than we could chew DX We had to do this while doing the main story AND the omake at the same time, so doing three projects at once while handling real life at the same time was NOT the best idea. But we finally managed to get this done at least, so that's a small victory that RoxaShadow and I are happy about! Anyway, I wanted this to be special because I love Roxas and Namine and believe they deserve this after all that they've been through in the KH universe. So I thought this would be perfect to correlate with the anniversary of this great story! Rest assured, though, that we will get back on track to the main story. I only ask that you all remain patient for just a little while longer. But other than that, I just wanna say thank you all for supporting RoxaShadow and sticking with him so far! I do hope that you will stay with us to the very end. With that, bid you all audieu :D_


	37. Chapter 36:A Delicate Dance

"Ah come on now! You can do it! I know you can!"

Cinder growled as she slowly pushed herself to her hands and knees, her arms and legs trembling from the effort.

" **Shut. Up,** " she hissed in anger, prompting a smile from Demyx's lips. The room was a simple one, constructed out of cement and little else. They'd taken to using it for training as it had the most space in the building while still remaining sound proof to the outside world. Demyx was wearing a pair of fashionably torn jeans, some pink flip flops, and a yellow T-shirt decorated with a striped grey kitten. Cinder was wearing a basic white tank top and some simple black spandex shorts alongside some sandals. She started out these training sessions wearing her typical attire in the form of her red dress and pumps, but upon realizing Demyx's affinity for water first hand, she quickly made the adjustment to shorts and a tank top. Sure, she preferred training in her standard battle attire, but these dried out faster.

"Ah don't be like that. You're the one who suggested this, right?" the Nobody casually said, his hands in his pockets as he strolled over to where the woman was still hunched over trying to catch her breath.

Demyx squatted down beside Cinder meeting her malicious gaze with a happy smile, "You want a towel? I think we have a few over-"

"I don't want a towel!" Cinder snapped, her voice reverberating against the walls all around them. A towel typically meant that the training session was over since it meant that she was drying off and it wouldn't make sense to dry off just to get blasted by a jet of water again.

Demyx brought two hands up in a motion of surrender. "Okay okay! Sheesh! Don't take my head off!" he spoke in a playful tone.

Cinder growled intending to snap at the young man again, but instead sighed. Her body aching, Cinder slowly shifted herself into a sitting position.

"Sit," she commanded, eyeing the man with a curious gaze.

She watched as Demyx casually looked for a dry spot amidst the sea of seemingly endless puddles before sitting Indian style beside her. Cinder pushed her soggy, soaked bangs back and out of her face as she studied the man with an intense gaze. How could someone so powerful, someone who could defeat her so easily, behave so casually? She gathered that to any outsider looking in would see him as a low rank member, someone to be easily dismissed based on how sheepish and spineless he could sometimes behave. Cinder thought back to all the times she'd intentionally tried to intimidate him just to see his frightful reaction. It amused her to listen to him stutter and tremble from her presence alone. The terrified and jumpy demeanor he so often adopted while in her presence had never failed to draw an inward smile to her metaphorical lips.

This was until she'd begun training with the man, that is. Despite what she'd been told, despite hearing from the others that his capabilities far outclassed their own, she'd always held the firm belief in the back of her mind that she was _more_ powerful. There were very few opponents she knew whom she would actively consider her equal, even _fewer_ she'd consider her superior. She knew that they existed of course, but in a one on one fight, she felt confident that her skills would outclass the vast majority of fighters.

That all changed when she asked him to go all out against her.

It had been over in less than a minute. She allowed him the first attack, confident in her defensive capabilities before quickly being overwhelmed. She started the fight standing with her arms crossed, an overconfident grin on her face. When it ended a minute later, she was soaked head to toe, her slender frame slouched against the wall, a shocked expression consuming her face.

"I don't understand you," she finally said after a long silence.

"...Huh?" Demyx's head tilted to the side, a brow raised. "What do ya mean?"

"What I mean is," she said growing agitated at his lack of seriousness in the moment, "How can you be so strong, and yet so weak at the same time?"

Demyx scratched the side of his head in thought. Cinder waited in anticipation for his response as the man's face grew serious, his eyes reflecting a deep thought.

The Nobody's lips parted before shifting into a goofy grin, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

The wet slap of Cinder's hand against her face echoed throughout the room.

"What I mean is!" she raised her voice in frustration. "You have all this power! You've beaten me so many times I've lost count! I know only a _small_ handful of people I realistically think could bring you down and yet!" The tension in her shoulders eased, the edge to her words dulling. "...You behave so timidly. You shy away from conflict. Hell, before we started training together, you even shied away from _me_. It's like…" she paused in thought, picking her words carefully. "It's like you have no confidence in yourself, or rather...you feel that you _shouldn't_ have confidence in yourself. Like your strength and power isn't enough to justify standing proud, standing with some _pride_." She positioned her back and shoulders straight to make a point.

"So what gives?" she continued. "Why do you act the way you do? Why do you quiver beneath me despite the fact that you likely could easily take this entire operation over if you really tried." Cinder paused. "Not that you should mind you. If you did attempt to I assure you that others who _can_ beat you would arrive and your little reign of power would end."

Demyx let out a short laugh. "Sheesh lighten up Cin, I'm not planning on 'starting a revolt' anytime soon!" He reached out and patted her back as she scowled. He'd recently taken to using the nickname 'Cin' on her. She didn't enjoy the nickname, but despite her persistent orders for him to address her by her _full_ name, that didn't stop him.

"It's not really all that complicated y'know," he began, wiping the water he's accumulated from patting Cinder's back onto his shirt. "You remember how I told you guys that I'm a little bit different from the rest of ya, how I'm missing something?"

 _That's an understatement._ Cinder quietly thought to herself as her eyes narrowed, focusing on the man's answer as he continued.

"Well, you see what I'm missing sorta affects my behaviors and stuff. Like," He met her an expression with wide eyes. "If you'll believe it, I _shouldn't_ have any personality, like, at all."

Cinder's brows furrowed at this. _No personality? How could that be possible?_

"Yeah I know right? Mister 'Lazy and Sheepish' is supposed to be mister 'Robot and Dead inside', crazy right?" He paused. "Well now that I think about it, maybe I should just be 'Mister-Saix' all the time!" He began to let out a laugh before pausing, noticing that Cinder was staring at him with a confused gaze.

"Oh, right, you don't know Saix. Uh, well, imagine a dude leagues uglier than me of course, with like, long blue hair and an X on his face and is always serious all the time!"

Cinder remained quiet, opting to simply stare at the man with a frown.

"Right…you don't want to hear that, you want me to get to the point don'tcha?"

A nod.

"Alright so! Back on topic!" he said laying back and sprawling out, positioning his arms behind his head. Cinder watched him curiously as he did this.

"Something else I should mention: I wasn't always like this. Devoid of emotion, devoid of anything that could actually make me _feel_ something." Cinder's eyes widened as she saw the serious expression on his face. It wasn't playful or mocking this time, it was finally serious. "I used to be normal. I used to be able to feel happy, angry, sad, excited, all the things that you get to experience everyday. Then I lost that. There's actually quite a few people like me who've lost what I have." He raised his head to meet her gaze for a moment. "Wonder Boy is one of 'em, er, well, I guess I should say _was_ one of them." Cinder watched the man _scowl_ in annoyance before laying back down. Had she ever seen Demyx _scowl_ even once?!

"Of course it sucks not being able to feel anything. No one wants that, so something we figured out is that we could pretend," he sighed. "Even now, all these sounds, all these expressions are just me pretending to be the person I was back then. I'm only able to pretend so well because I've lived most of my life as that other guy. So when you tell me I should be 'prideful' or more 'strong'," He sat up, meeting her gaze with a frown, "I'm not lying when I tell you I literally don't know how to be like that. All I know how to be like is the person I _was_ , regardless if that man and the man you see today are the same person." He shrugged, sighing. "Maybe you're right, maybe I _should_ be a lot more aggressive and confident. Maybe I _should_ get mad at things, or try to take charge in situations...but until I recover what I lost…" He raised a hand to the center of his chest, looking down at it. Cinder noticed his eyes taking on a glassy, distant look.

"I won't be able to change. I won't be able to grow or become more as an individual. I'm stuck where I was all those years ago. Trapped to spend the rest of my existence either as the man I was before I became hollow, or to spend it as a robot devoid of anything that could even resemble emotion."

Cinder's eyes were as wide as ovals as she stared at the man. She expected him to tell her that he was just spineless by nature, or that he was just too lazy to take any initiative. But this? This was unlike anything she could have predicted from Demyx. She'd always assumed that due to the shallow and trivial nature of his personality that he was just some loser without a story, a _nobody_ that just happened to be strong. To hear that _this_ was what plagued him, day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, a decision between holding onto his past or letting go to embrace what he described as…nothingness.

 _Could he be lying? Could this all just be a ploy to gain sympathy from me?_ Cinder thought, but even as the thought passed through her mind, she knew it was wrong. The look on his face, the sincerity of his words accompanied that the _bizarre_ nature of the claim told her that his words were…at least partially...true.

"Oh my god!" he suddenly exclaimed, holding his stomach as he started to wheeze out in laughter. "Look at your face right now! You're so totally shell shocked! Look!" he said pointing. "Your jaw fell open a little bit!"

Cinder blinked rapidly as her mouth quickly shut and a blush flooded her cheeks. The emotion only lasted a moment, but in that moment Cinder felt properly embarrassed for being caught so dumbfounded. She was supposed to be revered, feared, and intimidating; to be caught looking so _stupid_ left the girl feeling sheepish.

But then that moment passed.

And a deep, unbridled **rage** overcame her.

" **Shut! Up!** " she roared before raising an open palm to the man's chest. " **Fira**!"

A wave of red and orange erupted from her hand before enveloping the Nobody beside her, triggering an explosion that sent him flying back. There was a loud _**CRACK**_ as Demyx made contact with the wall on the other side of the room from his head snapping back and colliding with the cement in a swift and violent motion.

The anger in Cinder's eyes eased as the man slumped to the ground, still.

Cinder rose to her feet as she said, "Get up! I know you're just pretending."

Demyx remained unmoving.

Cinder's eyes began to widen with confusion, worry beginning to rise in her chest. "Hey! Stop it! I'm not playing games with you!"

Still, Demyx's form refused to move, or even shift in any way.

"...Demyx?" Cinder began to walk towards the Nobody, slowly at first, but then she rapidly began to sprint towards his still limp form.

Cinder knelt at the Nobody's side, pulling his body so that his face was looking up.

"Demyx wake up!" she demanded, panic beginning to lace through her words. Had she truly hurt him finally? She didn't think it possible. She'd been sparring with him throughout the week so frequently and so vigorously that she'd gotten it in her head that she couldn't hurt him, or at least not seriously. Sure, she landed some hits on him. The man was sloppy despite his power, but he always seemed to get up or bounce back with twice the vigor.

 _But that was when he was aware that there was a fight at hand! Not when you blindside him!_ she mentally scolded herself. Her hands quickly tightened into fists as her mind raced searching for what she was meant to do. Being in command for so long, being in control and seen as a leader had gotten to her head. It had been so long since she'd been viewed as anything less that even that single moment of insecurity had resulted in an outburst of undeserved rage on her part. Should she call for help? No, that would look bad on her, not only for injuring one of her soldiers but for requiring help afterwards like a scared child who just broke their toy. That left only one option.

"Damn it!" she cursed before raising a hand over his form. She was shaky with this type of magic, but it was one she knew nonetheless. " **Cure!** " she shouted as a small green set of symbols began to hover over the Nobody's head.

She waited patiently for the spell to end, and then looked down to examine her work. To her dismay, the young man was still unmoving.

 _Was I too late?_

Her mind began to flood with panic. She'd just disposed of their most vital asset! This was a _massive_ loss in their leader's eyes as well as her own! What would she do!? Could she fix the situation somehow? What if she-

"Pfftt…"

Cinder's entirely body froze in place, her worried, wide eyes narrowing on the Nobody's lips.

"...You should see your face…" Suddenly Demyx's lips tightened like he'd just tasted something too sour to bear and started to quietly laugh still lying on the ground.

Cinder's worried expression fell away immediately as she quickly rose to her feet, staring daggers at the man who was down stomping his feet against the ground from laughing so hard.

 _Oh, good, it looks like he really_ _ **was**_ _just playing after all. Of course I didn't actually hurt him._

She swiftly aimed an open palm down at the giggling Nobody which made Demyx freeze in his tracks.

"W-wait, no, no, no, it was a joke! Don't-"

 _So it shouldn't be so bad if I do it again._

" **Fira**."

* * *

 **-Ten Minutes later-**

Cinder held the towel in her hands, wiping down the parts of her body and hair that had yet to dry from their second fight. Demyx, who had a massive burn hole in his kitty T-shirt, walked up beside the girl.

"You know you're getting pretty good with your magic," he spoke with a chipper smile.

"I know," she responded flatly as she continued to focus her attention on drying herself. She figured out in a matter of days how to cast the spells Demyx knew. It'd come naturally to her, like something within her very core had been _designed_ to do it.

"I just wonder why the others are having such a difficult time…" he mumbled under his breath. Despite her good fortune and luck, the others hadn't seen any progress towards attaining the magic that she'd gained so quickly. It was odd to say the least. Neo, Roman, Mercury, and Emerald were all excellent fighters in their own right, and excellent at learning a new craft in very little time as their well being very much depended on this fact. However, it seemed that they were completely inept when it came to casting even the simplest _fire_ spell. This eventually led to the group shifting their focus away from magic and towards refining what they already knew. With Demyx being their opponent, Mercury, Emerald, and Neo all quickly realized that they needed to stay sharp if they even wanted to last a minute in the training room with the Nobody.

"They'll figure it out eventually I'm sure," Cinder said matter-of-factly as she felt the last particles of water in her hair absorb into the towel. Tossing it aside she commanded with a critical gaze, "Why haven't I been able to summon the Corridor yet?"

Despite her rapid growth when it came to magic, the ability to summon a Corridor of Darkness had remained elusive to the girl. She practiced every day, _attempted_ every day, following the instructions she received from Demyx to the T, with little results.

And this _infuriated_ her.

To have gained a near mastery of spells so rapidly, only to have what she viewed as the most _important_ ability seemingly out of reach was near maddening. The _power_ to teleport anywhere, anytime…the very concept was _intoxicating_ for the young woman. It had already become an essential part of her plans; _Demyx_ was entirely essentially part of her plans. That fact alone was the entire reason she so frequently ordered Mercury and Emerald to spend time with the young man, and why whatever he asked for no matter how ridiculous was met with the utmost seriousness. The latter to her surprise he'd barely taken advantage of, asking for barely even the essentials which made the former all the more important. Even _she,_ despite her hatred of prolonged interaction with any one individual, did her best to respond positively towards the man. That wasn't to say she didn't snap from time to time, but she did her best. She _needed_ Demyx, with what he could do he was easily their biggest asset, second only to herself in her eyes.

She was dependent on him and his capabilities.

And she _hated_ that fact.

With Demyx, she had the ability to teleport whenever he was around. She would issue commands and he would listen, but even then it didn't feel like the power was truly _hers_. This distinction was only further reinforced by these recent training exercises. Each jet of water acted as a cold reminder that at any point in time, whenever Demyx felt he no longer wanted to follow her commands he could leave. If he wanted to he could pack up his belongings today and be gone before the sun was up the following morning, and Cinder would be _powerless_ to stop him. If anyone else-Mercury, Roman, Emerald-if _any_ of them decided they wanted to desert, Cinder knew that it was well within her capabilities to _kill_ them for doing so, and they knew that.

 _Not that I'd want to of course. But them knowing that I have this power over them makes their abilities_ _ **mine**_ _._

Demyx on the other hand, Cinder knew she would have little chance to stop him if he tried to do the same. That fact alone shook her to the very core. Being powerless to _anyone_ left her at a loss; it left her feeling like she wasn't herself. Like everything she'd done up to this point, all that she'd _sacrificed_ to get here was meaningless.

Meaningless, because she wasn't at the _top_. It had been _her_ hard work that got her this far, it was _her_ hard work that was fueling this very operation, and it would be _her_ hard work when she eventually became the strongest. She wanted to be strong enough so that _no one_ would look down on her _ever again._ There were few whom she took orders from, and she only accepted those orders with the intent of one day surpassing them.

This fact alone left Cinder full of both sincere admiration for Demyx, and a seething unrivaled _rage_. Admiration for the fact that he'd managed to grow so impossibly strong through whatever sacrifices he chose to make, and rage for the fact that it seemingly _trivialized_ what she'd gone through to get to where she was now.

 _That's why I have to make his power my own. That's why I have to make the Corridor of Darkness my own._

Once she'd done that, once she'd taken this final ability, she would no longer _need_ Demyx. His other abilities were nothing too special. Sure his affinity to control water was strong, stronger than her's in fact, but over time she knew that she would eventually grow strong enough to overcome it. But even if her own powers eventually surpassed his, if she didn't learn how to summon the Corridor of Darkness herself she would still be his lesser, still be forced to be dependent on this man.

And Cinder _**refused**_ to allow that.

"Hmm," Demyx adopted a thinking pose. "Why _haven't_ you been able to summon a Corridor of Darkness...that's a good question!" he said shrugging. "I don't have a clue!"

Cinder crossed her arms giving the man a dirty look that read 'I'm not playing'.

"What?" Demyx waved his arms dramatically before sighing and crossing his own. "Look, I really don't know what I can do to teach you. There's only _one_ way I can think of that could possibly give you control over the Darkness, but that route is out of the question. So it doesn't even matter."

Cinder raised an eyebrow. _One way?_

"Explain," she demanded coldly. "What is this 'one way'?"

Demyx's eyes grew wide before turning his back to the woman. "No."

Cinder approached the man with her hands tightening into fists, a fire lit behind her eyes. This man was telling her that there was a way to give her what she wanted, and now he was _refusing_ to teach her?!

"I'm only going to ask one more time Demyx," Cinder spoke coldly as she reached up and placed a tight grip on his shoulder. "Tell me what I have to do in order to gain access to the Corridor of Darkness, **or else**." Cinder knew that if it came down to trading blows she would almost definitely lose. However, the man before her had just revealed that he couldn't change no matter what, so if she attempted to intimidate that timid nature of his, Cinder gathered that she might have a chance to make him talk. It was a gamble, but at this point she had little else to lose.

Demyx looked over his shoulder, noticing the cold death glare from Cinder before a chill ran up his spine.

"Okay! Okay!" Demyx stammered pulling away from her grip. "I'll tell you! But I'm not gonna go through with it okay? I'm only going to show you what I'm talking about so that you understand why it's absolutely positutely out of the question."

Cinder, her arms crossed, merely peared over at the man with a deep frown. Despite her intimidation method being successful, it appeared that even that wouldn't shake his adamant stance on the matter.

"Fine," she said dismissively. If he only wanted to show her, and not actually attempt whatever this process was, that was fine by her. If anything, she could try and replicate the process based on what he said and achieve control of the Corridor of Darkness that way.

"Alright good." Demyx breathed a sigh of relief before raising a hand, a motion Cinder had connected to the process of summoning a Corridor of Darkness. Before anything happened, however, the Nobody froze, his eyes wide before he adopted a contemplative stance with a hand cupping his chin.

"What is it now?" Cinder growled in agitation. She was getting tired of his games.

"Uh, weeellll," Demyx said tilting his head to the side. "It's just that, my old boss told us to NEVER under any circumstances summon Heartless to this world…and I'm just trying to understand why."

Cinder raised an eyebrow at this sentence. His old boss? 'Heartless'? **This world**? Demyx had mentioned a previous occupation, but he'd always remained vague on the subject for some reason. And 'Heartless' was a term entirely new to the woman. A being without a heart? What could that possible be? She couldn't even begin to unpack what the phrase 'this world' suggested. Did that mean that the man before her was-

Cinder shook her head, ridding her mind of the thought. If this could lead to her gaining the power of the Corridor of Darkness, then that's all that mattered.

"Well he's not your boss anymore Demyx, _**I am**_. So I order you to summon this…'Heartless' creature you spoke of."

Demyx scratched the side of his face. "Yeah...but I remember him saying that it was like, _really_ important that we don't. Something about there being another source of Darkness or whatever? Like...we'd lose control or some-"

" **Demyx**!" Cinder snapped. "I am your boss and I am **ordering** you to summon the Heartless!"

The room grew quiet once Cinder's voice stopped echoing off the walls. Demyx had turned and was meeting her unwavering gaze with his own. Cinder was staring _daggers_ into the man, unflinching, _unblinking_ , her frown so deep and sincere that it was almost a snarl.

This was the outward demeanor Cinder was doing her best to maintain, but inside she felt the cold chill of fear running up and down her spine. Demyx wasn't folding. He wasn't immediately shrinking away as he normally did, he was _**staring her down**_. The look in his eyes was almost just as intense as her own, and it was a look she'd never seen on the man before. One that she didn't think was even _possible_ on his face, and it absolutely _**terrified**_ her. She'd just been told that no matter what he tried, he couldn't change his personality to one that was more assertive or confident. So how was it now that he'd seemingly figured out how to be so _intimidating_?!

Their collective distaste for one another continued for several more seconds before Demyx closed his eyes releasing a tired sigh, "Fine."

When his eyes closed, Cinder felt her entire form quiver finally releasing some of the tension that had been building in her body.

"G-Good," she stammered before immediately cursing herself mentally for letting a shred of her nervousness slip out.

Demyx raised his arm out again, grumbling as he said, "Now, I'm not very good at this admittedly. Saix or Xemnas would probably do a better job at summoning them, so I'll just show you the weakest one if that's okay."

Cinder didn't trust her own voice enough to respond. She was glad that Demyx's back was turned because in that moment she could feel her shoulders trembling no matter how much she tried to stop it. She understood all too well throughout the week that Demyx had the power to defeat her in battle, but she'd only ever seen it as just that, a _defeat_. When she glared into Demyx's eyes glaring back at her, she realized something she hadn't before. If he wanted to, if they ever came to truly trading blows, he could very well _kill_ her if he wanted to. She never saw it from the happy, jovial, goofy Demyx she'd grown to know so well, but that man she'd just seen a moment ago...she could absolutely see him standing over her as she drew her last breath.

 _Get a hold of yourself Cinder!_ she commanded herself as a dark flame began to swirl from the ground before dissipating and leaving behind something... _strange_.

Her immediate assumption was that this... _thing_ was a Grimm, but something about it's yellow beady eyes and pitch black body led her to assume it was something else. It's body resembled that of a small child, or perhaps a goblin for a better comparison. It had sharp, angular feet and three jagged claws at the end of each of its hands. Atop its head were what appeared to be two antennas, one that hung straight back and another that was bent the wrong way, dangling uselessly against its head.

"Huh," Demyx tilted his head examining it. "Must have been in a fight when I called it." Shrugging, he turned back to Cinder, "This is a Heartless. There's a lot of different types. This one in particular is called a 'Shadow', got it?"

Cinder slowly nodded refusing to take her eyes off the strange creature. It seemed to be in a state of constant movement, its torso and head swaying side to side in a never ending loop.

"So what these little guys do is try and collect something called 'hearts', hence the name 'Heartless'. Clear so far?"

Cinder nodded, not really paying attention. It had no mouth or nose, and no ears either. The only sensory organs Cinder could make out at all were the two beady yellow eyes resting center within its circular head. How did this creature sustain itself with no mouth? How did it breath with no nose?

"In order to do that," Demyx continued, "It needs to steal hearts from beings that have them. IE, people like you."

Cinder blinked as she finally started to tune into the conversation again. This thing tried to steal people's _hearts_?

"So it basically kills people." Cinder stated matter-of-factly. "It kills people and rips out their hearts from their ribcage is what you're telling me."

The look of disgust on Demyx's face told her she got something wrong. "Ew no! That's so gross! That's not what I mean at all! Why would you say something like that?!"

Demyx squirmed for a second, shuttering before continuing, "I guess I should clarify. When I say your 'heart', I don't mean in the literal sense. Like, sure you have the thing that pumps blood in and out of your body, but you also have a different type of heart. One that is more tied to...who you are as a person. It's the part of you that makes you _you_ if that makes any sense."

Cinder studied the man in thought, the part of you that makes you, _you..._ what did he mean?

"Are you talking about that whole 'lovey dovey' sort of heart? Like when someone says 'I love you with all my heart'? Are you walking in that sense of the word?"

Demyx tilted his head back and forth in contemplation. "Yeah...sorta. I mean, it is the heart that allows you to 'love' someone, but it's so much more than that. Everyone knows about how 'love' is supposedly tied to your heart, but no one realizes that your heart is tied to all your other emotions too." The man paused, a frown forming on his face. "Of course, I only know that by what I've been told...I can't really confirm that fact personally."

Cinder raised an eyebrow at this comment. Your heart tied to your other emotions? Can't confirm that personally…! Her eyes grew wide as her mind returned to what she said earlier about not being able to grow, about not having any 'true' emotions as he put it.

"Demyx…" she began slowly. "Are you telling me that _you_ don't have a heart?"

A smile tugged at his lips. "Ding ding ding ding! We have a winner!" A pause. "Can you figure out now what I'm going to tell you would be the way to you learning how to use the Corridor of Darkness?"

Cinder grew silent again, her mind losing itself in thought. It didn't take her long to connect the pieces.

"In order to control the Darkness…I have to be like you," she began slowly, her gaze shifting back towards the Heartless still withering on the floor. "And you don't have a 'heart' as you call it. So in order for me to gain control of this power...I need to let this _thing_ take my heart."

Demyx nodded smiling "There ya go. Now you realize why I said it's not even a possibility for us to-"

"Let's do it."

Demyx froze mid sentence to slowly look back at the woman. Her hands were fists, a look of pure determination in her eyes.

"Are you crazy?!" Demyx shouted with a shocked expression, "You have no idea what you'd be giving up! You wouldn't even feel like a _person_ anymore!"

"I don't care!" Cinder roared back. "I _need_ this power. I don't care how I get it." She _needed_ to be the strongest. She made sacrifices in the past before; family, friends, she'd given them all away in this pursuit. If she lost something like emotions, she wouldn't mind. If it left her in a state similar to Demyx where she was locked in her current mentality, even for forever, then that would just mean that she would continue to pursue her goal indefinitely. That didn't seem so bad in her eyes.

Demyx shook his head. "Cin, look. Not only do you not realize what you'd be giving up, but if you do this, there's no way to assure it'll even work!"

Cinder stared questioningly at the man. What did he mean it might not work?

"Not every person who loses their heart become like me. There's very few of us who actually keep out bodies after the experience. Most people, if their hearts aren't strong enough, become lesser Nobodies. Creatures that retain nothing from their past life as Somebodies, taking a form that isn't much different than that," he said pointing down at the Heartless still standing a few feet away from him.

Cinder paused, staring down at the creature before her. He was saying that there was a possibility of her becoming... like that? Cinder sneered in disgust down at the mindless Heartless before her. He said that only people with _strong_ hearts got to keep their bodies.

Cinder's knuckles went white with rage. Was he calling her _weak!?_

"So there's zero percent chance that I become a 'lesser Nobody' as you put it," she said with a cold rage.

Demyx blinked several times. "Are you even listening to me?!"

"I am!" Cinder roared back. "You said that only someone _weak_ would turn into something like _that thing_ ," she said pointing with disgust down at the Shadow. "And while I might not be as strong as you _yet_ , that does not make me _**weak**_!" She raised a finger towards his chest. "And if you think I'm going to let you stand in the way of-hey, hey wait! Where is it going!?"

Demyx turned his head as the Shadow began to shuffle away, moving towards a nearby wall. A puzzled expression crossed his face. "Hey! Where do you think you're going googly eyes?"

Despite the Nobody's orders, the Shadow continued towards the wall before eventually melding into its flat surface and then disappearing entirely.

"...Where did it go?" Cinder asked curiously.

"I...don't know." Demyx admitted. "Heartless tend to follow the commands of whoever they view as the 'biggest bad'. That's why I figured it would listen to me if I summoned it…" Demyx scratched the side of his head confused. "Where could it be going to…?"

Cinder's eyes narrowed in suspicion, "...You didn't just order it to leave so that it wouldn't be able to make me like it did you?!"

Demyx turned back towards her with a look of shock on his face. "I can't believe you right now!" The young man turned away from Cinder and began to make his way towards the door. "I'm done with this conversation. I already told you that I'm not doing this, end of discussion."

As the Nobody walked past her, Cinder fumed with rage, knowing that Demyx was directly going against her orders and knowing that she physically could do _**NOTHING**_ to stop him.

The woman grit her teeth in frustration searching her mind in an attempt to use _anything_ she might have at her disposal to get her way.

"Wait!" she suddenly called out just as Demyx's fingers had wrapped around the handle.

"I'm done talking about this," the Nobody said in an uncharacteristically serious tone.

"That's fine," Cinder spoke coldly. "But I just need you to answer me one question." She chose her words carefully, stalling for time as she did her best to figure out how to word a question that had been lingering in the back of her mind since the start of this conversation.

"You said that you have no heart, meaning no emotions, right?"

Demyx paused at the doorway, his back still turned to Cinder. "Yeah…?"

"If that's the case, then why are you here?" she said motioning to the room, but Demyx knew she was indicating to their hideout, the White Fang, their Organization. "What makes you stay, huh? If you truly care about nothing at all...then what motivates you to fight for us? What motivates you to train me? What makes you want to wear that _stupid_ cat shirt?"

Silence filled the space for several moments as Cinder awaited a response, the only sound between the two of them being the wet dripping noise from her still damp shorts.

"Wonder Boy came here a few months before me," Demyx began quietly. "When I saw him again, he did something that no Nobody could ever pretend to do...he cried."

Cinder's eyes widened as Demyx turned to face her, a blank expression on his. "I don't know how he managed to do it, but something in this world gave him back what was taken away from all of us. I stay because like all Nobodies, I want to get that piece of me back through any means necessary," he sighed. "That's why I do everything I do. If I want this world to give me back my heart...then I figure I gotta interact with it a little don't I?"

"...Why pretend to care?" Cinder mumbled confused. "If you don't have a heart…then why do you care if I go through with this? I know you don't, or at least, not really...so why stop me?" Cinder didn't let him answer as she continued. "You said it yourself. You can't _change_. You're either emotionless or stuck as who you remember yourself to be. That person you emulate has always folded to my commands. Every. Single. **Time**. And yet you still refuse. I know that the emotionless husk you described wouldn't care one way or another...so, when I ask-no, _order_ you to transform me into a…'Nobody' as you put it, what is making you say _no_?" She figured that if she couldn't flat out _**order**_ him to comply, perhaps she could attempt to reason with the man.

She fully expected him to say something like 'Because it could mean I don't have a boss anymore' or ' Because I don't want to go through the trouble'. What she got instead was entirely different.

Demyx merely turned towards her with wide eyes and a slack jaw. To say he appeared shocked would have been an understatement. She could see his lips moving, trying to find an answer to the question she posed but every time he did the answer fell apart.

"I...because...you don't…" Finally a hand went to the back of his head ruffling his dirty blonde hair. His gaze fell away from Cinder, averted to the ground where he continued to appear perplexed.

Finally, after what felt like an eon of silence he lifted his head and met her eyes again. "That...is an excellent question. You're right on both accounts. Niether side of me should be refusing this request...and I have a feeling that had you asked me this when I'd first met you I probably would have accepted." He shook his head scratching the back of it. "But now...for one reason or another, I can't seem to bring myself to."

Before she could get out another word the man turned and left the room, letting the door slam behind him as he did.

Cinder simply stared at the spot of the door where he'd been standing. One line of his sentence replayed in her mind as she tried to conclude if it had been a simple turn of phrase...or something more.

"...I have a feeling…?"

* * *

 **-Beacon Academy: Dance Hall-**

 _This is...weird._ Roxas thought to himself as he watched the dance going on all around him. The space was filled to the brim with students each either wearing a well fitted and often _revealing_ dress or a black tuxedo of some variety.

Colorful balloons and streamers lined the walls alongside some interesting choices in lighting giving the dance an electric energy. Lively music was playing which he only vaguely paid attention to going on in the background of his mind. Chairs lined the walls on either side of the dance floor for those who wanted to take a break from the excitement. Roxas found himself occupying one of these chairs, deciding that it would be less awkward for him to wait here than out on the dance floor while he awaited for Weiss to return. Roughly twenty minutes after they entered the dance, the girl spotted Namine entering and told him that she had to go and compliment her dress and would be right back.

That had been ten minutes ago, and whenever the boy turned to look over towards the two girls he could tell they were seemingly deep in discussion about something serious. Roxas was curious but figured that it wasn't his place to pry. If they wanted to tell him, they would. If not, then it wasn't his business.

The young man slowly brought a cup of punch he'd taken earlier to his lips when he heard a voice call his name.

"Roxas! Is that you!?"

The boy's eyebrows raised as he turned his head and saw a familiar set of emerald eyes staring back at him.

"Penny?" he said the name in surprise as the girl strode up to him with a bright smile on her face.

"Hi Roxas!" she said with a wave.

"Uh, hey," he responded awkwardly smiling back at her. "I didn't know you'd be here." he said honestly.

"But of course! I wouldn't miss a social interaction like this one for the world!" she said motioning up towards the ceiling with two outstretched hands. Roxas could see two soldiers strapped with armor and weapons standing only a handful feet behind her.

"Why do you have guards with you?" Roxas asked curiously. This was a casual school event wasn't it? He couldn't think of a need for a student to require protection.

"Oh don't mind them!" she responded with a cheerful smile. "My dad is just _super_ protective is all."

 _So protective he won't let his daughter go out to a public dance?_ Roxas thought to himself as the redhead began to look to her left, then right.

"So where's your date? I don't see Ruby anywhere."

Roxas took a moment to answer, raising an eyebrow at the comment. Why would she assume that _Ruby_ was his date?

"Um...well I haven't seen her yet honestly. I asked Yang and she told me that Ruby might be running a little late," he said with honest disappointment. He wanted to see Ruby again to tell her that his headache was gone and that she could hang out with him again.

Penny raised an eyebrow. "Really? Oh that's weird! I wonder why?" She crossed her arms in exaggerated thought before turning back toward him. "You know you're usually supposed to enter with your date, right? Maybe that's why she didn't come, she's upset!"

 _Again, she's assuming that I came with Ruby...why?_

"Um, I doubt it." Roxas responded as he scratched the back of his head. "Oh, and I don't know why you keep saying it, but me and Ruby didn't come to the dance together."

A shocked expression washed over the girls features "What!?" she shouted out in protest. "But you two were so cute together!"

Roxas blinked a few times. When had she seen the two of them together?

The boy opened his mouth to ask but just then the clicking sound of approaching heels interrupted him.

"Sorry Roxas!" Weiss's voice called out. "I didn't mean to leave you here! Namine and I just got into a discussion about-" The girl paused as she saw Penny standing beside the boy.

"Oh! My apologies," she began casting a curious gaze towards Penny. "I don't believe we've been properly introduced." Offering out a hand she said, "Weiss Schnee, and you are?"

Penny slowly reached out to shake Weiss's hand. "Penny Polendina." She gave Weiss a narrow stare before turning her gaze back towards Roxas. "Is she…your date?"

Roxas rose from his seat nodding, "Yeah, this is her."

Weiss curiously looked between the two. "Do you know each other?"

Penny slowly nodded, "Yeah, we're friends actually."

"Oh!" Weiss began. "I do apologize if I interrupted something. Please, do continue."

"No, no…" Penny began with a frown as she eyed Weiss. Roxas swore that she looked _disappointed_ for some reason. "I was actually just leaving," she continued with a dry tone. Turning to Roxas she said with a half-hearted wave, "I'll talk to ya later I guess." Already beginning to walk away, she waved to Weiss, "Nice meeting you."

The two watched as the guards quickly followed after the girl before disappearing into the crowd.

Weiss slowly turned back towards Roxas with a raised eyebrow. "That was odd...did she seem upset about something to you or was that just me?"

Roxas shook his head, "No no...I felt it too. That was weird. She always seems so upbeat."

"Hm." The girl in white looked out towards where she's seen Penny and her guards disappear into the crowd before turning back towards Roxas with a smile. "Well, let's not focus too much on it! We have to make up for lost time!"  
"Lost time?" he repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"Well this is a _dance_ after all," she grinned. "And I rudely left you to speak to a friend about something, again, so sorry about that." Roxas shrugged in a 'I didn't mind' sort of manner. "So, we have to make up the time we lost _dancing_."

Before Roxas could respond, Weiss had already grabbed his hand and was pulling him with her out to the center of the dance floor.

"Alright!" she said excitedly. "Time to show me your moves!" Roxas watched as the girl took a step back before her body began to move in an interesting yet deliberate way. She was _dancing_ as far as he could determine. He'd been watching several others do so throughout the night. From what he could gather, it was the simple act of moving in rhythm to the music. He'd been studying the other students in preparation for when he assumed he would have to do the same with Weiss. He noted that the _way_ the students danced was wildly dependent to the song being played, as their movements directly tied to the beat of the song. Whenever the beat shifted, so did their hips; whenever a different key was hit, their feet moved to the rhythm. It all seemed so complex to the boy, but at the same time so intuitive.

Despite this fact, when Weiss began to move her body to the flow of the music, the boy found his arms and legs frozen stiff. His hands were firmly pinned to his sides while his feet might as well have been nailed to the ground. It didn't help that the girl in front of him was moving _beautifully_ to the music. Roxas had seen _several_ students dancing, many of them were very good, others, quite awkward looking. But _none of them_ could hold a _candle_ to Weiss's performance in that moment. It was as if her movements and the music were directly tied to one another. Each note prompted a corresponding swish of the girl's hips, each elongated key complimenting a shift. Just watching her dance forced a blush on his cheeks. Her movements were so deliberate, so _intimate_ with the music playing that Roxas almost felt embarrassed watching something so irrefutably captivating. Roxas didn't know if someone could take lessons for dancing, but seeing the way Weiss moved, he figured that _she_ could likely be a teacher if she so chose to.

His experience with dancing was limited at best, Roxas knew this fact to be true, but even acknowledging that truth couldn't shake the conclusion in his mind that the girl before him was absolutely _incredible_. Roxas could barely pull his eyes away from her performance, but when he did, he found his assumptions were true. He could see other male students staring at Weiss's performance, some of which were standing next to their dates at the time. Roxas winced as he saw several of his fellow classmates get slapped by their angry dates.

"Are you okay?" Weiss asked with furrowed brows. Roxas watched as she came to an abrupt halt in her movements looking over at him concerned.

"I-uh," he responded dumbly, realizing that his immediate response to her question was to protest against her stopping. Blinking, he immediately discerned that would sound dumb and came up with a different reply.

"You're amazing," he stated flatly.

Weiss's eyes grew wide before a blush overtook her features and she looked away. "Thank you. You can thank years of practice in ballet and dance for that."

 _Oh, so people do practice this,_ he thought to himself before smiling.

"You had other people looking you know," he said trying to pay her another compliment.

Weiss appeared startled by this comment, drawing into herself as she wrapped her arms around her torso. "They were?"

Noticing that his compliment had caused the opposite effect to the one he wanted, he quickly doubled back on his words, "Er- well not too many that is. They, uh, well I think it's just that your dancing was so captivating that it drew their attention."

Weiss's lips slowly pulled into a smile at this comment. "Thank you Roxas. That's very sweet."

A mental sigh of relief filled the boy's head in response to her smile.

"But you weren't dancing," Weiss commented appearing concerned. "Is everything alright?"

 _Huh?_

When he'd been watching Weiss dance before him, the way her body moved perfectly to match the sway of the music, it hadn't even crossed his mind that he should start dancing. It had been hard enough to figure out how to dance when it was just him sitting on the sidelines watching others do it. But when he saw Weiss begin to move and realized that he had to compliment _that_ level of skill? He'd all but given up on the idea.

"Oh, well…" Roxas began slowly rubbing the back of his head as he did so. "It's just that, you're so good and, well, to be frank," the boy sighed shaking his head. "I've never actually danced before." His cheeks went red.

Realization hit Weiss like a tidal wave in a tsunami. Of course he didn't know how to dance! This was Roxas! The boy had never attended another school let alone another school dance!

Weiss's hand immediately reached up and face palmed.

"I'm an idiot…" she slowly whispered.

"Huh?" Roxas replied confused. "You're not an idiot just because I don't know how to dance."

Weiss shook her head, "No, no I just-" She smiled at the boy. "Would you like me to teach you?"

The boy didn't know why, but suddenly his chest felt warm from the sincere and sweet smile she was giving him.

"Oh, uh, sure." he finally stammered out.

Weiss took a step forward before reaching out with two hands and placing them on Roxas's hips, pulling him in so that their navels were nearly touching. Immediately, a bright flush overcame the boy's face.

"You see," Weiss began. Roxas could tell that she was intentionally looking down, unwilling to meet his gaze as she too was bearing a blush. "Dancing is all in your hips, just follow me as I go."

Roxas found himself moving the same way Weiss was as her hands directed him.

"Good good, keep mimicking me," she said as she slowly pulled her hands away and left him to move on his own which he did his best to keep up, all the while Roxas was becoming increasingly aware of just how close they were to one another. He could feel her breath against his lips; the aroma of her perfume was sweet as it drifted to his nose, it smelt of flowers.

"Now, just move your legs like so," she said simply as her feet began to step to the beat of the music. Roxas quickly followed suit as he watched her legs move to the rhythm of the song. He found his eyes slowly wandering up to the edge of where her thighs disappeared beneath her dress.

Roxas blinked rapidly as he quickly averted his gaze while still maintaining Weiss's instruction.

 _What is wrong with me right now?!_ he mentally shouted at himself. His body felt hot but it wasn't from the tuxedo; his face was seemingly in a constant blush now and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't stop his heart from racing.

 _Am I okay? Am I gonna have a heart attack?_

"Very good!" Weiss chimed with a smile. "Now you just have to do something with your hands."

Roxas looked down and saw that his arms were still limply at his side as the rest of his body was moving.

 _Crap! She's right! What am I supposed to do with my hands!_

The boy awkwardly shot them straight up towards the ceiling as if he needed to ask a teacher a really important question to a teacher.

 _Somehow this feels worse,_ he thought to himself as a cute giggle emanated from Weiss.

"No, that's not what I mean." She reached up and pulled his arms back down. The moment her slender fingers made contact with his arms he felt a jolt of electricity race up his spine.

 _There's definitely something wrong with me._

"Here, just position your arms like this…"

.

.

.

A half hour had passed since Weiss began teaching him how to dance and in that time Roxas realized he worked up a bit of sweat. He hadn't realized it going in, but dancing was quite the workout.

He spun in unison with Weiss as the music picked up. The two of them moving in different yet complementing fashions. Externally he had a confident smile on his face, happy that he was finally able to move in time with the music, internally he was hoping that the sweat on his forehead and neck wasn't too noticeable. He'd only realized that he was sweating when the gel in his hair began to come undone, resulting in a single defiant bang falling in front of his face while the rest of his hair remained slick back in a proper fashion.

He noticed that even Weiss had begun to glisten with sweat, creating a small gleam along her arms and legs. To her credit, it didn't make her look bad.

Roxas continued to dance to the best of his capabilities. He knew that he wasn't the best at it judging based on the stifled giggles from Weiss whenever he would do a particularly silly maneuver, but at the same time he figured he wasn't the _worst_ dancer there.

Finally the song came to a close as the two spun into one another, meeting each other in a flourish as their faces drew inches apart, their hands clasped together. Once the final notes rang out, the two quickly separated.

Breathing heavily Weiss complimented, "I knew you would be a quick study, you were great out there Roxas!"

Already smiling, Roxas felt his grin grow wider. "Thanks, although I'm still nothing compared to you."

Weiss shrugged with a confident grin. "Ah well, it's hard to contend with someone so perfect," she commented in a semi-serious, semi-sarcastic tone.

Roxas rolled his eyes still smiling. "Might I add how humble you are too?"

"But of course!" Weiss added. "I am the most humble person you will ever meet."

The two shared a laugh together as Roxas felt a finger tap against his shoulder. Turning to look, the boy was met with a face he hadn't expected to see here.

"Blake?" he asked questioningly. She was wearing a dark black dress that accented her curves well with a slit running up the side of her leg.

"Hello," she said with a smile, but Roxas noted that her eyes were serious.

Weiss raising an eyebrow said, "Hello, you look wonderful by the way."

Blake gave a courteous nod before responding, "And you as well. You wouldn't mind if I stole Roxas away for a second would you?" she asked in what sounded like a jovial tone, but Roxas could hear a hint of something serious beneath it.

"Oh, um," Weiss stammered, clearly having picked up on the slight conflict in tone. "I...suppose…"

"Great." Blake's tone was no longer jovial, returning to its typical serious nature. Grabbing Roxas's arm she said, "I'll have him back in ten, promise." She turned and began to drag Roxas along with her.

Weiss shot him a questioning gaze which Roxas returned before he was pulled to the other side of the room to where he saw steps leading up.

"This way," she said sternly as she began to make her way up the staircase. Confused, Roxas decided to follow. Eventually, the two found themselves atop a balcony looking out and over the rest of the school. Looking up, Roxas had a clear view of the stars twinkling in the night sky.

Blake leaned against the railing looking out towards the rest of the school with a serious gaze. Roxas slowly walked up next to her, studying her as he leaned against the railing too.

"I have a lead," she said finally breaking the silence.

Roxas stared at her perplexed. A lead on what?

Blake sighed seeing his lost expression. "I have a lead on the White Fang, which part of Vale they're in, and a potential hideout of theirs."

Roxas's eyes grew big at this. She found them? How? Where!?

Turning towards Roxas, she continued, "You wanted to take down that 'Demyx' guy right? Well, I want to bust this group and find out why they're teaming up with scum like Torchwick just as much as you want to take down your former ally."

She reached out for a handshake. "I need as much help as I can get if I want this to go smoothly and I know you have a stake in this too, so are you in?"

Roxas's wide eyes stared down at the hand in front of her in bewilderment. So many questions raced through his head as he stood there. She wanted him to help her investigate the White Fang? How'd she find them? What were they up to? If they still had Demyx with them, how much of a threat were they to Vale? Someone with Demyx's kind of powers anywhere was potentially devastating. And more importantly, if this 'lead' was right and they did find Demyx, what would they do?

"Before I agree to anything, I need to know. If we do find their hideout, what will we do?"

Blake's hand slowly fell to her side. "Well in a typical situation like this one, I'd say we treat it like a reconnaissance mission. We go in, get what we came for, and then get out. We could go to the police with a friendly tip and let them handle the matter." She raised a finger. "However, this is not the typical situation. We know that a member of their organization has the ability to teleport wherever they want, and considering how large their organization is, for them to have stayed hidden this long they must have a rat somewhere in the police force. This means that going to the police is out of the question because the moment the rat leaks that someone's onto them, they can up and teleport away before the cops can get properly assembled."

Roxas blinked twice, she'd really thought this through hadn't she?

"So...what does that mean for us?"

Blake appeared conflicted in her answer, chewing on the inside of her cheek as she began, "It means...that we're between a rock and a hard place. We can't turn to the authorities with what we have in case that one of them is in cahoots with Roman and them. I'd thought of maybe telling one of the teachers-they'll likely act on the information. But I also know that once I do that, they'll have a closer eye on me for investigating the White Fang by myself." She sighed. "Students aren't supposed to be going off on their own investigating crime syndicates as you might imagine. It being 'dangerous' and all that. Once I give them this lead, then that's it for me and my investigation, and what if my lead is wrong? What if they storm the factory and discover nothing? I would have given up my edge on the White Fang for nothing."

"Ah c'mon! Give me a little credit!" complained a masculine voice from behind them.

 _Wait…why do I know that voice…?_

Turning around, Roxas was met with a familiar face.

"Sun?"

The boy was wearing his typical attire, jean shorts and red gloves, but with a black dress shirt and a hanging tie around his neck.

"Heya Roxas!" he chimed walking over. "Long time no see, huh?"

Roxas's eyebrows furrowed staring at the young man. Why was he here?

Blake appearing more annoyed than usual sighed and gestured to Sun who was now standing beside her. "I guess I should mention that this is my _lead_. Sun here's the one who found it."

Sun laughed noticing Roxas's still confused expression.

"Here, let me explain," he spoke with a wide grin before turning to Blake. "Should I tell him how we met?"

Blake rolled her eyes as her arms crossed. Looking away she responded, "Do what you want to."

Sun snickered before turning back to Roxas. "So I'll give ya the short version. Basically, after that fight at the docks, me and Neptune never stopped investigating the White Fang." Leaning in he whispered, "We kinda thought it was cool that our detective work led to an actual bust."

He leaned back and continued, "Eventually, we noticed that all the places we were investigating had this little black caaaaaa…" Sun's happy expression dropped as he slowly turned his head towards Blake who was staring daggers into him.

"aaaandice…?" Sun paused scratching the top of his head in thought. "We, uh, thought her name was Candice as first so…" Roxas watched amused as Sun struggled to come up with an excuse. He could even see Blake attempting to hide a smile.

"He already knows about me," she finally said aloud.

"Oh thank god," Sun exhaled a sigh of relief. "I thought I'd just really messed up there."

Roxas let out a laugh.

"So, getting on with the story," Sun began again. "Basically me and Neptune kept seeing this little black cat hanging around all the dust robbery locations and eventually we decided to approach her."

"I beat them up." Blake said flatly.

"It was a draw at best!" Sun exclaimed pointing a finger at the girl.

Blake had a devious smile on her lips.

"Anyway!" Sun exclaimed only slightly annoyed. "We got to talking after our little exchange and realized that we were after the same thing, the White Fang." Sun's expression shifted from jovial to serious in that moment. "So naturally we decided to join forces and trade information to see if together we had something that apart we didn't."

Blake rolled her eyes. "Basically everything they had I already had but more."

"That was true up until a few days ago! I saw a suspicious figure in the western Industrial District. He was wearing flip flops, some torn jeans and a cat T-shirt."

 _Well that certainly sounds like something Demyx would wear…_

"Now, if we had been in the residential or commercial districts, I wouldn't have batted an eye. But when everyone is in steel toe boots with old oil stained work clothes on, a guy looking like he did stands out." Sun shrugged. "Well, there was that, and I saw a familiar face with him."

Roxas raised an eyebrow. Who?

"You remember that guy in the bowler hat? Roman I think it was."

Roxas's eyes widened.

"Yeah," Sun crossed his arms across his chest. "I was walking up next to the guy, already curious when he suddenly pulled out a ringing scroll. And guess whose face I saw when he answered it?"

Silence filled the balcony for several seconds as they waited for Sun to continue.

"What? No guesses?" the Faunus said with a grin.

"Get to the point already," Blake said in an impatient tone.

Rolling his eyes Sun sighed, "Take the fun out of everything, why don't you? Alright I'll continue. So basically, after I saw that I tailed the dude until we reached an old abandoned factory. He entered, and I got out of there before I was found out."

"So that's what we have," Blake said pushing off the balcony and meeting Roxas's gaze. "We know where they are and have the advantage of them not knowing that we know. We have an opportunity here, but it might slip by fast."

Roxas tilted his head to the side. "Huh?"

"We don't know how long they've been there or how long they plan to stay. They could move out by tomorrow if they really want to. So that's one issue. Another issue we have is that we can't go to the authorities on this without potentially alerting the White Fang that we're onto them...at least not yet."

"Hey!" Sun complained. "You said that I'd get to tell the plan since I came up with it!"

Blake shot the Faunus a dark look before sighing, "Fine, go ahead."

"Sweet!" Sun cheered. "So we know that if we call the police that the White Fang will probably catch onto their operation and dip before they get there right?"

Roxas nodded.

"But what if the White Fang is too busy at the time to pack their bags and head out?"

Roxas shot him a curious gaze. What was he getting at?

"What I'm saying is we have a repeat of our time at the docks!" he exclaimed with a bright smile while wrapping an arm around Roxas's torso. "We make it impossible for them to run away by acting as the distraction! As a group we all jump down and start knocking some heads! We call the police and while they're taking their sweet time getting down here we can take our sweet time kicking some serious bad guy butt!" As he said his last words he slammed a fist into his palm.

"You want to...just straight up fight them?"

"Only until the police arrive," Blake interjected. "Preferably we'd run a distraction tactic; a straight out fight might end poorly for us. We'd basically be stalling for time until the police arrive."

Roxas felt a sinking feeling in his stomach at the idea. "There's no way." He shook his head. "This is a terrible plan."

"It is," Blake agreed. "But it's the best we've got right now." Reaching out, she rested a slender hand on Roxas's shoulder. "That's where you come into play. We're going to need as many people on this as possible, which means we'll need you to convince your team to help."

"My team?" Roxas repeated.

Blake nodded. "In a couple of days it'll be announced that first year teams will be shadowing real Huntresses and Huntsmen. The teachers have been talking about it quietly the last few days. If you manage to grab a mission somewhere in the Industrial District, then both of our teams will be able to meet up after nightfall outside the factory."

Roxas's eyes widened. "You've already managed to convince the rest of team Rainbow?"

Blake's gaze dropped, a conflicted look washing over her features. "...Not yet," she sighed looking out towards the stars. "And I'm not looking forward to telling them either. They're going to have a lot of questions...and in order to gain their trust I'm going to have to be _completely_ honest with them."

Roxas saw the black bow resting atop her head twitch and knew immediately what she was saying. He felt like he should say something...but he didn't know what.

"Hopefully they can trust me," she mumbled beneath her breath. Roxas could see nervousness and fear in her eyes. Doubt and uncertainty was clearly written on her features as they stood there in the moonlight. Before him was a girl that he presumed had been hiding her entire identity behind that black bow. She kept her heritage, her past, her interests and intentions all a secret to her team all this time. How someone would react to having all of that revealed Roxas could only imagine.

 _Actually…_ Roxas thought to himself in realization, _I don't have to._

Reaching out he set a hand on Blake's shoulder. "Don't worry too much about. Yang might get upset, but she'll still have your back. Trust me, I know from experience." He gave her a reassuring smile. "I don't know Nora and Ren as well, but Nora seems like a person who just goes along with anything without too much hang up, and Ren...well, he seems to just go along with whatever Nora wants." Roxas shrugged.

Blake returned his smile. "Thanks."

"So!" Sun loudly interjected slapping Roxas on the back in the process. "You're in right? We're gonna need a powerhouse like you to make this plan work."

Roxas paused, the term 'powerhouse' wrapping itself around his mind over and over again.

 _I'm no powerhouse anymore…_ he thought to himself quietly as he contemplated the offer. If what Sun told him was true, then they wouldn't just have to face the White Fang, they'd be forced to face _Demyx_ as well. The very thought sent a shiver down the boy's spine. The idea of facing Demyx the way he was then was enough to cause a tremble in the boy's shoulders. With his powers gone, he didn't stand an ice cube's chance in a forest fire of winning.

 _Maybe I could ask them to hold off until my powers returned? Namine mentioned my powers could come back within the week...No...that won't work._

Roxas knew he couldn't wait until he got his strength back. There was no way to ensure that the White Fang would still be there by the time his powers returned. Not only that, but he didn't have time to waste searching for Demyx afterwards. He needed to stop Xemnas as soon as possible, which meant the moment his powers returned would be the moment he went for Xemnas's throat.

 _I can't let Xemnas get any stronger. Every second I'm stuck here could be another second of Xemnas getting closer to completing Kingdom Hearts. But what does that leave me with? If I can't wait for my powers to return, then that means…_

Roxas sighed. He knew he would have to face Demyx in his current state, but that didn't mean he liked it. He would be at a severe disadvantage, but if he didn't do this now then he might not get the chance again.

 _If I don't stop Demyx here and now…I won't get another chance before I have to face Xemnas. And if I fall to Xemnas...then I'll be leaving this world to face Demyx alone._

Roxas shivered at the thought.

 _It's my fault he's here in the first place. It's my duty to stop him._

"I won't be as strong as I was at the docks…" Roxas slowly began before reaching out and meeting Sun's handshake. "But I'll do everything I can to help."

Sun raised an eyebrow to the reply. "Wait, why do you say you won't be as strong? Did something happen?"

Roxas frowned looking down. "I...suffered an injury that's left me weaker than I was. I'm still recovering."

"...Oh," Sun uttered frowning. "You sure you up for this? I mean, if you're feeling weak, then...maybe it'd be better if you sat this one out?"

A deep fear in Roxas's gut was _screaming_ at him to accept the offer. Roaring at him that he was just as vulnerable as all the others now, that his failure wasn't just a possibility anymore, it was a _likelihood_. The chance of him perishing in this upcoming battle was more than in any other fight he'd ever faced and Roxas knew that to be the truth. In any other fight he could always just heal himself, or if things were getting really bad: summon a Corridor of Darkness and flee.

Those safety nets were gone now.

"Not a chance I'm sitting this one out," Roxas spoke with what he hoped was a confident grin. "Just because I'm not as strong as I was, doesn't mean I'm weak." Despite the nerves in the pit of his stomach roaring at him to hide away, to flee from this problem until the safety net that was his power returned, something else persuaded him to persist. The idea of Ruby, Yang, Pyrrha and the rest of his friends all going to fight without his help was enough of a motivation to push down all those fears. If one of them was injured or _worse_ and he wasn't there doing absolutely everything in his power to prevent it, Roxas didn't know if he'd be able to sleep at night afterwards. Even without his powers, Roxas knew that he wanted to-no- _needed_ to protect his friends

A bright grin spread from Sun's lips. "Aye! That's more like it!" He clapped a hand against Roxas's back.

"Good. Then it's settled," Blake said seriously as she started to make her way back towards the party. "I'll get my team together, you see if you can't do the same."

Sun's head whipped between Roxas and Blake before turning in the direction of the girl and chasing after her. "See ya later Roxas! I can't wait 'til we do this!" he shouted back with a wave.

Roxas raised a hand waving back with a smile on his face until the two disappeared back into the party.

The boy's hand slowly fell to his side as his smile slipped away replaced by a worried frown. Turning his back to the balcony doors, the boy leaned on the railing looking out towards the stars. His mind racing, he began to think of ways he might deal with someone like Demyx _without_ his normal powerset.

 _He's poor at close range combat for the most part, if I I can manage to get in close I might just be able to deal some damage to him…that is assuming I somehow manage to break through those defenses._

He sighed thinking about the walls of water he would have to somehow blast through.

 _Maybe if I catch him off guard it might give me enough time to get in close before he can react. The others could distract him while I slip around the back and-_

"Um, hey Roxas, I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

The boy turned with wide eyes to see Weiss standing awkwardly by the door.

"Oh, hey." He forced a smile pushing the doubt in his mind away. "Having fun at the party?"

Weiss smiled approaching him. "Well I would be if the guy I came with was down there with me."

"Oh, right. Haha, sorry about that," the boy answered rubbing the back of his neck as she positioned herself next to him alongside the railing.

"I was beginning to wonder what was keeping you up here." She leaned up against the railing, her back to the sky as she looked over towards him. "It looked like you had your mind on something when I arrived. Everything okay?"

Roxas paused considering if he should share what he was feeling, if he should tell her the plan Blake was initiating.

 _...I said I wouldn't keep secrets from my friends anymore. Besides, I might be able to get her to join our plan._

Roxas's lips parted. Taking a breath, he prepared to recount the plan.

* * *

 **-Ten Minutes Later-**

Weiss's eyes were wide as the last of Roxas's explanation reached her ears. The boy maintained their gaze with an expectant look; it was obvious that he was hoping for a response.

"I...wow," Was all that she could mutter in response. "I had no clue that Blake was diving so deep into this."

Roxas nodded. He'd told her nearly everything, excluding the bits about Blake being a Faunus. That seemed like a secret that wasn't his to tell.

"Yeah, a lot to take in I know." He sighed. "But I'm willing to bet that they would appreciate it if you tried to help too."

"Wait," Weiss began with an incredulous expression. "You're not really considering going are you?"

Roxas's eyebrows furrowed. "Of course I am, how could I not?"

Weiss's jaw dropped. "You can't be serious."

Roxas nodded. "You know I'm not one to kid around about stuff like this. Why do you think I wouldn't?"

"Oh I don't know maybe because you nearly died in your last couple of fights! Maybe because you're literally in _no condition_ to be fighting again!" He could sense a build up of rage from the girl.

"I'm not _weak_ Weiss!" Roxas snapped back, his voice echoing out into the night sky.

Weiss paused in her sentence, her eyes wide, her mouth ajar. It was clear to the boy that she hadn't expected him to snap like that.

"I-I-," she stammered before swallowing her surprise and staring into Roxas with a serious gaze. "I know you're not Roxas. I know that even now, even without all your abilities that you're still an incredible fighter who still has every right to be in this school. But-"

"I can handle this Weiss, I'm not running away from-"

"Please!" Weiss interrupted. "Just...let me finish alright?"

Roxas felt the well of anger from his outburst slowly begin to diminish. When he snapped he'd seen a girl telling him that he was too weak to make a difference, that his strength wasn't enough, that he was irrelevant. But as he stood there, looking into those pale blue eyes, he didn't see someone telling him that he wasn't enough, he saw someone terrified.

Terrified of losing him.

"I-...I- know you're strong. You're the strongest person I know Roxas. You're strong, clever, selfless, _cute_ , honest, pure, and overall...just incredible." She paused, Roxas could see a blush spreading across her face. He could feel a warmth spreading over his features too. "I-I don't know how else to say it. You're an incredible person Roxas. I know I'm still young, and there's still so much more life to live, but I've honestly never encountered a single person like you in my whole life, and I-" Her voice grew shaky as she took a breath. "I can't begin to fathom a world where you're not in it. I don't want to think about a reality where you aren't a part of...my life."

Roxas felt a warm swelling in the center of his chest, his eyes were wide as he stared back into hers. He could see a distinct glimmer in them, like she was on the verge of tears.

"And I can't help but feel like..." She paused, looking down for a moment and using a sleeve to wipe at the corner of her eye. "I can't help but feel like this mission, that this battle could be the last time I see you. You've always made it by the skin of your teeth, you've always pushed yourself past your breaking point. I saw that in the Castle That Never Was when you were fighting Xion, I saw it during the breach and it terrified me to witness it. And I'm willing to bet that you did something similar during your fight against Demyx down in Vale."

Roxas averted his gaze choosing to study the floor rather than face the pleading expression in Weiss's eyes. It felt like someone was twisting something in his chest seeing her like that, and knowing _he_ was the cause for it made it even worse.

"Now you're even weaker than before going up against even bigger dangers and I can't help but feel like if I don't say something now, if I don't somehow stop you from doing this then I won't get a second chance." Weiss pushed forward, wrapping Roxas into a hug. "So please, just wait. Wait until you've recovered and then we can face whoever you want. I won't get in your way, I promise. So _please_ ," The way the word escaped her lips, the desperation behind it made Roxas grimace in shame, his hands tightening into fists as he stood stiff.

"Just...wait, okay?" Weiss pulled away with her hands still resting on his shoulders.

The sounds of music and dance echoed out from the slight crack between double doors being ajar. Weiss waited quietly for a response as Roxas fell silent.

"Namine told me that I could have my power back in a week or two, maybe longer."

A bright smile crossed Weiss's expression, she didn't know how Namine might know this, but regardless she delighted choosing to interpret this information as a 'yes'. "That's great! That's not all that long! We could wait until that day and then investigate this lead-"

"No," Roxas interrupted slowly shaking his head. "We can't wait that long."

Weiss's lips pulled into a frown, her brows furrowing; what did he mean they couldn't wait?

"I, I don't understand."

Roxas slowly pulled his head up, his gaze cold and calculated as he stared into her emotion driven eyes. "Blake and Sun seemed intent on going through with this plan regardless of if I help, and even if we did somehow manage to convince them towards waiting, there's no way to assure that the White Fang, that _Demyx_ would be there when we finally go."

Weiss shook her head. "Then once you get your powers back we can go on a hunt for the White Fang again! Like old times!" She smiled. "Remember? That's how you and I started to become friends."

Roxas felt a faint smile pull at his lips. "I remember. You were super angry at me for taking your position in team Purger."

Weiss nodded, letting out a soft laugh. "I can't recall if I ever apologized for that thinking back on it. I really berated you some of those times didn't I?" She sighed shaking her head on the silly thought. "In any regard, I apologize for how I acted back then. You didn't deserve it and I know that now."

Roxas shook his head smiling. "It's alright, you weren't all that bad. Plus afterwards you took me to dinner, so I think we're even."

The night air flooded with a short laughter between the two of them. After a few seconds, they stopped, staring into each other each searching for something in the other.

Weiss was searching his face for a 'yes'. A confirmation that he listened to her and wasn't planning on risking his life once again. Weiss frowned as she stared into his eyes, the way he was looking at her, the glint in his eye, the tightness in his face told her that he hadn't been convinced, that her words hadn't been enough to dissuade him.

Roxas was searching her face for understanding. He wanted her to see why he couldn't back down from this, he wanted her to know that _this_ was the way it had to be. But he knew that she couldn't understand, not yet. She hadn't been told the whole story, she didn't know what he did and until she did there was no way she would agree to this fight until she did.

Roxas let out a sigh as he felt the light hearted laugh they shared slowly fading away and being replaced by a tension between them that he couldn't ignore.

 _She needs to know. She deserves to know...they all do._

"I can already tell that you're not going to wait…" Weiss frowned. "But why? What's making you rush this so much when you don't have to? Sometimes it's better to take things slow rather than rush. People get hurt that way."

Roxas's mouth felt dry as he swallowed, preparing to reveal what he discovered only a few nights ago. "You're right. Of course you're right, if we had the time...if _I_ had the time, then I would be listening to you. I would wait until my powers came back and face Demyx then."

Weiss felt her lips slowly mouth the single word 'if'. What could he possibly mean by that? What could be happening right now that she was unaware of? What could possibly be forcing him to rush into this battle when he was clearly not ready for it?

"I can't wait anymore Weiss. I won't have the time to search out Demyx and the White Fang once I get my powers back because once I do…" Roxas felt his voice shutter as he took a deep breath in preparation for what he was about to admit. "Because once I do I won't be here anymore."

Roxas could see confusion written on her face. She was trying to understand what he was saying. Not be here anymore? Why? Where was he leaving to? If he was going somewhere then why was it so important to go there right away?

"You're…" she began softly. "You're not just talking about heading down to Vale, are you?"

Roxas shook his head. "No. I'm not."

"You're planning to leave Beacon...aren't you?" He could sense the concern in her voice.

"...Sorta, yeah."

"...You're not just leaving Beacon are you?" As Weiss spoke her eyes grew larger. "You're planning…I don't even know what you're planning."

"I need to face Xemnas."

The name split the air like a knife. Weiss felt a cold shiver run down her spine as the name struck her eardrums. Her mind flashed back to the cold amber gaze, his impossible speed and strength. Her mind flashed back to the time they'd been in The Castle That Never Was, when they'd been discussing what they would do in the instance that any number of the Organization approached them. She remembered the Roxas being uncertain, but at least confident enough to give them _some_ information on the other members, Saix, Luxord, Xaldin. He had at least _something_ on those members reflecting some level of confidence that they could be beaten. But then he'd gotten to the number one of the Organization, their leader, _Xemnas._

She remembered him describing the man to her. His silver hair, his amber piercing eyes, his deep authoritative voice. The only piece of advice he'd been able to give in regards to that… _monster_ had been to _run_.

"You...want to face Xemnas?" Weiss reiterated. Her tone was lost, confused. Roxas could tell that she was grasping to understand.

Roxas shook his head. "I don't. I don't _want_ to fight him. If I could run away and hide...I just might. But I can't. I made a promise that I've put off for too long, and now I'm the only one left who can even hope to stop him. I _need_ to face Xemnas, before it's too late."

Weiss blinked. "What do you mean that you're the only one left?"

Roxas swallowed as he prepared to reveal to the girl what he'd been dreading admitting for the past several days. What he felt was his fault, his mistake; the result of his absence, the result of his inaction.

His mind repeated it in different ways to say it, different ways to tell her the same truth. Each and every formation of the same message sounded dumb in his mind, like no matter how he framed the sentence his words couldn't represent the gravity of what was being said, at least not properly. After several moments of internal debate Roxas decided that if finding the proper words to tell her was impossible, then he might as well tell her as simply as he could manage.

"Sora is dead and it's my fault!" he spoke abruptly, shouting as he let it burst out of him like a wild animal racing out of its cage. The words hit the air like any other sentence would, but the message contained within them hung in the air, settling as he could see Weiss processing what she'd just heard. He'd not realized it before, but saying it aloud was so much worse than he could have ever imagined. It was as if before when _he'd_ only known this truth, it hadn't been _real_. It was something only he knew and because of that it was something that only he could know was true, his reality but not the world's reality. It felt like a bad dream to him before, something that he experienced in his sleep, something that could be forgotten and pushed away.

But now that he'd said it aloud to someone else, it was as if all of the weight of that fact was increased tenfold. Now not only he knew of his failure, but someone else knew of it as well, cementing his guilt and finalizing the fact that Sora was dead.

It was no longer his secret to keep.

Now it was someone else's.

Weiss's expression was one of loss, of confusion and a determined resolve to understand.

Finally after what felt like an eternity of silence waiting for her response, she said, "Sora...the boy we woke up back at the...how do you know?" Her words were soft and calculated, he could tell her mind was racing to put the pieces together.

"I've...I've been having visions in my sleep. In them I watched Sora's journey. We're still linked somehow, he and I...or I guess I should say that we _were_ linked. Anyway, I watched him explore new worlds and saw him grow incredibly strong...stronger than me even with my powers." Roxas let a sad laugh slip through his lips. He knew it wasn't funny, he just wanted a reason to take a pause before he continued.

"...A few nights ago I received my final vision. I saw Sora going toe to toe with Xemnas. The two were at the climax of the fight and…" The boy grimaced and turned away. "Then I got to watch Sora's final moments...before Xemnas finished him."

Weiss's expression was blank and emotionless. He could tell that she didn't know what to make of this information, and he didn't blame her.

 _I need to explain more for her to fully understand…_ he thought to himself as his lips parted. "In these visions I saw what Sora saw, I felt what Sora felt. It was as if I was him in these visions. I experienced everything that he did, and in those final moments before he was struck down by Xemnas's hand, I could feel him seeking deep within himself, searching for a strength that was missing." He paused a moment, waiting for her to understand what he was saying. When he saw her eyes widening a look of understanding behind them, he continued. "He was searching for my power, his other half." He shook his head. "When Sora woke up in that room, I was supposed to be a part of him again. I should have stopped existing in that moment and returned to him as his second half. That was my fate. That's what should have happened." He looked down at his hands at they began to tremble, a look of disgust written on his face. "And now it's too late for that. Sora's gone and I'm all that's left of him. Just a poor imitation of what he could have been." He looked up and locked eyes with her. "That's why it's my fault."

He could see the turmoil behind her eyes. He could tell those words had hurt her to listen to. She wanted to refute him, to tell him that he shouldn't blame himself, but there was no way to spin this the other way. They both knew that had he been with Sora in that moment, things could have ended differently.

To Roxas's surprise, Weiss's expression contorted into one of fury as she began, "So now you figure that you have to go and face Xemnas yourself? What will that do? You said it yourself, Sora was stronger than you when he went up against Xemnas. Even if you get your abilities back, going to face him now will just be throwing your life away!"

Roxas sighed looking down. He knew she was right, what was he supposed to do? If both Riku and Sora failed _together_ , then what was he supposed to do _alone_?

Despite this, Roxas shook his head. "You don't understand. If I don't go then soon there won't be anyone strong enough to stop him!"

Weiss's anger immediately subsided in place of bewilderment. "...What?"

Roxas waited until she was properly listening before he began to explain.

"Xemnas is after Kingdom Hearts. Why that is...I don't know for sure. He told us that he was trying to restore our hearts...but now I know that as a lie. I've thought about it a lot, and I've realized something. In the vision I saw Xemnas looked…different than normal, as if he had something _else_ aiding him in the fight. He felt different, moved faster, hit harder...and it got me thinking. Back during my time in the Organization, the way we collected hearts was by defeating the Heartless, and some of the Heartless I fought were pretty strong. They got their strength from the hearts they stole...so I imagine that Xemnas has started to figured out a way to harness that same power. I've collected so many hearts, I've slain countless Heartless during my time in the Organization…and if all those hearts, all those powers collected into one being..." He shook his head. "I can't imagine how strong that person could be, what they might be able to do with that power. They would be able to ravage worlds without an effort, he could come here and there would be _nothing_ I could do to stop him." He could see from the look on her face that she was beginning to understand. "When I saw him, he still resembled himself. I could tell that despite all the power he gained, he was still _fighting_ , and struggling, at least to some extent. Which means to me that he hasn't completed Kingdom Hearts... _yet._ " Roxas sighed as he looked down. "That's why I can't stay once I get my powers back. I don't know anyone that even comes close to facing Xemnas other than me. If I wait any longer then he might figure out a way to complete Kingdom Hearts and then it'll be too late for _anyone_ to stop him."

"...You don't know that for sure," she murmured looking like she'd just been told that someone died. Thinking about it, Roxas realized she had.

"He's figured out a way to harness Kingdom Hearts Weiss. That's something I never saw him do during my time in the Organization. It's not unreasonable to believe that he's figured out a way to continue making Kingdom Hearts too." He looked down at his open hand. "All this time I justified staying in this world because I told myself I was stopping him. I told myself that because no Heartless were here, that because I kept the Keyblade so far out of his grasp that I had the time to get strong enough to face him eventually." He shook his head. "Now I know that I was wrong. I've waited long enough, and look what that's done." He sighed. "I know that I might not be enough to stop him...but at this point my best odds are to face him as soon as I can before he can get even stronger."

He looked up studying her face, looking for the recognition he'd been searching for earlier. He wanted her to understand _why_ he was doing this, even if she didn't agree with him.

"I see…" she muttered quietly as she turned away from him deciding to face out towards the night sky then meet his face.

"That's why I can't wait for my powers to come back to face Demyx. I know that there's a…big chance that I won't win against Xemnas in our fight. If that happens…then I don't want to leave this world to face Demyx and the White Fang alone. He's goofy and he's aloof at times, but when he's serious...well there's not many that can rival a member of the Organization."

Roxas waited for her to respond as he stood there. He said everything, told her _everything_. It was a weight off his shoulders, but at the same time, what was he expecting her to say? Was he expecting her to tell him to go for it? That she supported his decision to go and probably throw his life away fighting an unstoppable enemy? He knew she wouldn't do that, there was no way any friend would say that. He knew that he wouldn't get that response. Maybe he just wanted to hear someone that wasn't himself tell him that they understood _why_ he was doing what he was doing. Not that they wanted it done, but that his actions made sense. He wanted some form of validation that at least in what he predicted would be his final acts...at least they would be justified in some way?

After another minute of silence, Roxas concluded that he probably wasn't going to get a response at all, let alone the one he wanted. He knew he couldn't blame her for it as he stared at the back of her head, his eyes full of sadness and uncertainty. What could anyone say to what he'd just told her? It was crazy to think about. Roxas was having a hard time himself accepting the situation he was in. A man without a heart was forming a power with the capacity to potentially consume worlds, and somehow _he_ was supposed to stop it...or at least die trying.

 _I should probably go. She's still processing all this. I doubt she wants me here._

Roxas turned to leave, his dress shoes clicking against the hard floor as he made his way towards the door.

"Wait."

Weiss was quiet, but the boy froze the moment the word reached his ears. Turning on his heel, he could see Weiss was facing towards him leaning against the railing behind her.

"I'd be lying if I said that I understood everything that's going on with you and this 'Kingdom Hearts' thing. I mean, you're literally out of this world." She flashed a sheepish smile at her own joke, but it quickly fell away. "But I know more than most, and I know enough to realize that nothing I say will change your mind. This is bigger than me, this is bigger than team Purger and team Rainbow, and whether you like it or not this is bigger than _you_. You're not gonna be enough to stop this and you know that deep down no matter how strong you are that you're still just a fifteen year old boy." Roxas's lips parted to contest this, but Weiss raised a hand in a gesture for him to wait. Frowning, he complied.

"I'm not asking you to wait anymore, I know that you won't, and I understand why you can't. But I can tell by the way that you're talking that you plan to take this on _alone_." Weiss paused closing her eyes as she took a deep breath. "So this is the deal I'm willing to make. I'll help you and Blake. I'll even convince Namine to help, although I doubt that it'll take much to convince her. I'll help you tell the rest of your team and I'll even do everything in my power to convince team Rainbow to help too." She looked him dead in the eye as she said, "But in return, you have to accept _our_ help when you go to face Xemnas."

Roxas's eyes immediately widened as his lips parted to protest, but before he could Weiss's hand shot out and pointed at him, her face full of unwavering determination and stubbornness. "That's the deal!" her voice rang out in a sharp burst. "And you don't get to accept it one way or another! Even if you say no! I'm friends with Namine and she knows how to do your 'Dark Corridor' trick too! So even if when your powers come back and you disappear on us, we'll be able to follow you even if you don't want us to!"

The boy stood there with shock written on his expression. Namine could form a Dark Corridor too? Was that true? He knew that she was a Nobody like him, hell she was even created at the same time he was so it made sense that she would be _capable_ of creating one...but who would have taught her?

"...Why has she never done it before? She's never showed me." Roxas questioned.

Weiss's determined expression faltered for a moment, revealing a sheepish frown of someone caught in a lie. "Well… she showed me one day that she was _able_ to create one, but she told me that she wasn't as good at it as you are at it due to lack of practice, so it might not be as…stable as the ones you create…" The seriousness in her tone immediately returned. "But that doesn't mean that we can't try and follow! It might take a few tries, but we'll get there soon enough!"

Roxas raised an eyebrow at this. Not as stable? Lack of practice? Did that mean that someone hadn't shown her, but rather she figured it out through seeing someone else do so alone? It made sense to a degree. She'd been with DiZ before all this, and it wouldn't make sense for the man to teach her a way for her to flee from him if she ever decided to. Did that mean that the Dark Corridor she could form would be even _more_ dangerous to enter than a normal one? Would travelling between worlds be dangerous even _with_ a coat from the Organization through one of her portals? Or would it just spit them out at a random location like his had done when he fled from the battle against Riku? Either way he didn't like the idea of his friends being exposed to the affects of Darkness or being lost on a strange world without a way to get back.

The boy locked eyes with Weiss, studying her expression for even a hint of a bluff. Several moments passed, and no matter how hard he dived into those pale blue eyes, he knew that she was telling the truth.

She had him. He couldn't think of a way to stop her if Namine truly could create a Dark Corridor. If he didn't agree to her terms and went off by himself to face Xemnas, then he'd be endangering his friends by doing so.

Roxas cursed under his breath as he broke their stare down, looking away with a scowl. When he looked back towards the girl he could see a confident smile on her lips. Still smiling, the girl approached Roxas, her general demeanor radiating that of someone who'd just won.

She reached out a hand for him to shake. "Do we have a deal?"

Roxas's frown was deep and unwavering as he stared down at the hand. He didn't want to endanger his friends in a fight against someone like Xemnas. Sure, he understood why she was doing it. It made sense from his standpoint to bring as many allies that were available to go against someone so strong. Roxas admitted to himself that he would be lying if he said he didn't at least feel a _little_ more confident in his odds of success if team Rainbow and Purger came with him, but that didn't mean he wanted to.

 _There's no way I would be able to keep everyone safe and fight Xemnas at the same time. If I accept this offer, then that would mean any one of them could be injured or_ _ **worse**_ _in this fight…_

But it wasn't like he was being given much of a choice. The alternative was that all of his friends be potentially exposed to the full effects of Darkness due to Namine's inexperience. Without him realizing it, Weiss had managed to trap him in the corner without any way out. He'd not realized it until then, but she was far more clever than he gave her credit for.

"...You know that I don't have a choice here…" he grumbled staring daggers into the girl.

Weiss smiled sweetly at the comment. Roxas couldn't help but find her pretty in that moment despite the feelings of annoyance he held for her at the same time.

"I know, I just need to make sure you understand that," she said pushing her hand even closer to him.

Roxas sighed as he reached out and took the hand, limply shaking it.

"Good," Weiss smiled. "I'm glad that we could come to an agreement."

Roxas rolled his eyes, a grin slowly pulling at his lips. Despite not liking the deal, something about knowing his friends would be there with him was reassuring, although he would never admit it.

The two continued to stare at one another as they grew silent, the gentle night breeze licking at their faces as it passed. Several seconds later Roxas realized that they'd been staring at each other for too long without saying a word and the boy immediately turned away, his face feeling warm.

"Are you feeling okay Roxas?" Weiss asked reaching out a hand to rest on his shoulder. As she did so Roxas realized that he was becoming increasingly aware of the girl's physical touch and just how close she was to him.

"Uh, yeah I'm good," he stammered out as he took a step back escaping her grasp. Running the back of his neck he asked, "Do you want to go back down to the party?"

"Oh…"

Roxas watched as her expression fell.

"Uh, yes. Of course."

Feeling particularly partch Roxas turned on his heel and began to make his way towards the door.

Before he could get very far however, he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Wait…"

Roxas looked over his shoulder eyeing the girl. Her hand was gripping his shoulder firmly, tightly like she was fighting to keep him here despite him stopping when she asked him to.

"Yeah?" he answered. Her head was lowered so that her hair was hanging in her face masking her facial expression.

"I just...I need to tell you something I think," she said uncharacteristically quiet.

Roxas raised an eyebrow. What else was there to talk about? Did she still have questions about the plan? He'd gone into depth telling her all that he knew. Was she planning to bring up Xemnas again? He'd already agreed to her terms, so that wouldn't make sense to him.

His eyes looked into hers questioningly and to his surprise he could see... _uncertainty_ in those pale blue irises.

"Is everything okay?"

Her smile reassured him as she said, "Yes, everything is fine, it's just that...with this plan that Blake proposed I realize that we only have a few days left until things start moving forward."

Roxas nodded in response. It would be only a couple days until teams would be assigned their Huntsman or Huntress to shadow. Assuming Roxas could convince his team to transfer to the right district, the fight against Demyx and the White Fang would be a mere day away.

"Not only that, but even if we do succeed and manage to take down this Demyx guy...well the moment you get your powers back whether it's tomorrow or sometime within the week, we'll be off to face some other life risking adventure…" The girl paused as her words trailed off. Her gaze remained locked onto Roxas; however, he could feel her gaze searching deep into his own, searching for something he could not determine. She was studying him looking for an answer he knew not how to give.

"Yeah…" Roxas answered back. "Looks like the next week is gonna be pretty eventful huh?" The boy attempted to muster a short laugh but it fell away quickly, the weight of the upcoming events drowning away any sense of humor he could muster.

"It is." Weiss smiled briefly before it disappeared behind a nervous look, one that only cemented the boy's previous analysis.

"...What's wrong Weiss?" he quietly asked staring into her eyes.

A scarlet blush rushed to the girl's features as she pulled away stammering, "N-Nothing. I'm just-...I am just building up the courage right now…"

Roxas tilted his head in confusion as he watched Weiss turn her back to him taking deep breaths.

 _The courage for what?_

"...Roxas?" she asked delicately, an aura of insecurity in her voice that Roxas found himself unfamiliar with. Rare was it that Roxas found Weiss appearing insecure or unconfident in any way. She was confident, both in who she was and her abilities and that quality was something that Roxas picked up on the first day they met. Seeing this side of her as she turned around, looking over towards him like a lost child looking for their parent, Roxas couldn't help but feel unsettled watching her look at him that way.

"...Yes?" he answered back questioningly.

"Do you know why I asked you to the dance?"

Roxas paused in thought recognizing the weight of the question. Just from the way she was looking at him he could tell that 'because you wanted someone to dance with' wouldn't cut it.

"...I imagine it's not because you just wanted a dance party...was it?" he answered honestly. His mind raced through the depictions of romance and affection he'd seen leading up to the evening. The looks that some of the couples gave each other as they swayed in each others' arms ignoring the music entirely to spend it closer to one another.

A short laugh escaped Weiss lips. "Perceptive as ever aren't you?" Her smile remained as she continued to watch him, staring as he stared back uncertainty.

 _What does she want me to do right now?_

Almost on cue, Weiss said, "Before I say anything...can you answer me a single question?"  
Roxas slowly nodded. "Um, sure, yeah that's alright."

"Why did you choose to tell me?"

To Roxas's surprise the answer came out almost immediately. It'd been a question he'd been unknowingly preparing for ever since he received his vision of Sora's defeat. Every time he thought about what he had to do, every time he considered the impact his failure would have, he always thought about his friends. About what they would think and what they would say. He didn't want them to be confused if something happened to him, he didn't want them to feel like he was keeping something from them if this was truly it. He wanted them to know that he cared for them, that he confided in them and that they mattered to him enough that he let them in when he pushed everyone else out. It wasn't just his little world anymore, they were all a part of it too.

"Because I trust you," he answered simply. "I've learned that I can trust you. That I can trust Ruby and Pyrrha and Yang and all of our other friends. I decided a little while ago that I was done with keeping secrets. That you all deserve to know the truth behind what's happening and why it's happening. I told you because...well, you deserve to know." Roxas smiled. "I told you because I knew that I could trust you."

The smile pulling at Roxas's cheeks soon fell away as he saw the look of sadness consuming Weiss's features.

"What?" he questioned with wide eyes. "Did I say something wrong? I'm sorry, I didn't know that-"

"No no!" Weiss waved off his concern. "It's not that. Nothing you said was wrong...in fact it was quite sweet thinking about it."

Roxas's head cocked to the side. If she found his answer sweet, then why did she appear so sad?

"It's just that...I have a couple things I need to tell you, and I don't know what to tell you first." She rubbed the side of her arm as she looked away appearing uncomfortable. Letting out a nervous laugh she spoke, "What's funny is I spoke to Namine about this. That's actually why I pulled away from you at the start of the dance. I was actually talking to her about exactly this."

 _So Namine knows._

Roxas noted as he let Weiss continue, "She effectively told me that I should stop beating around the bush and just outright say it. That I need to take that risk, and I had planned to do exactly that tonight." She sighed looking wistful as she stared out into the darkness. "I figured tonight would be the perfect occasion to finally say it. Finally let go of that fear and tell you."

Roxas felt his eyes begin to grow as his mind worked at what she was telling him. Nervousness, embarrassment, a message she wanted to deliver to him on _this specific night_. It had been staring him in the face all this time and Roxas felt annoyed that he hadn't seen it before. His mind filled with the displays of affection he'd encountered throughout the campus leading up to the dance. He didn't understand it, or at least not completely, he knew that much. But from what he'd seen leading up to the dance, he could figure that she was expecting something of that nature.

As his mind filled with these images, suddenly a seemingly new image occupied his memories.

Ruby was looking back at him, their feet swishing in the water as they sat close to one another next to a river bank. He was studying her face as she began to speak, stuttering the entire time. Her expression was one of uncertainty, of nervousness...nearly identical to the expression Weiss had been wearing. The outside world suddenly stopped mattering as the memory began to play out again, his mind blanking on every previous thought except for this memory as he began to relive it.

" _ **You don't have to tell me." Roxas shrugged away the question.**_

" _ **No no!" Ruby startled turning back to the boy. "I want to tell you I do! It's just… hard to I guess."**_

" _ **Why?" Roxas asked bluntly.**_

 _ **Ruby smiled. "I love how innocent you are sometimes."**_

 _ **Roxas scratched his head in response, looking at her strangely.**_

 _ **She sighed, "It's actually something that Jaune told me…that started to make a lot of sense when I thought about it."**_

"...Roxas?"

Before he realized what was happening Roxas felt himself pulled back to the present with Weiss standing before him resting a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to get his attention.

The boy stared at the Schnee with wide eyes, his face contorted into one of pure surprise and shock.

"Are you okay?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Uh," Roxas stammered. He could feel the sweat running down the side of his face, his heart was beating a mile a minute, but why?

 _Wait_... _what were we just talking about? What was that memory? That was after the walk...wasn't it? Grr! It's all so foggy right now!_

Realizing that the Schnee was still awaiting his response he quickly blurted out, "Oh, yeah I'm uh, fine I think." He rubbed his temple as he continued, "Just…feeling sorta weird right now."

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "Oh? How so?"

The boy slowly raised a hand to his chest. "My heart is pounding and my head is blanking and I'm all…" Roxas ran a finger down the side of his face. "I'm sweating for some reason."

To his surprise this prompted a knowing smile from the Schnee standing before him. Much to his surprise, Weiss raised her other hand to rest on his shoulder, her fingers lightly gripping his shoulders as she smiled at him.

"I think I know what's going on," she said as she gently began to pull him towards the center of the large balcony space.

"You do?" he asked confused as he yielded to her pull.

She nodded. "I do. You're feeling nervous because you're having feelings that are new to you, that are unfamiliar. You're having butterflies and it's because you're closer than you ever were before towards understanding those feelings."

Roxas blinked as he noticed her begin to sway back and forth. "How...do you know?"

Weiss's smile widened before leaning forward and whispering in his ear, "Because I'm feeling it too."

Roxas blinked rapidly. She was!? Did that mean that she was having flashbacks too? Wait, that didn't make sense, she hadn't suffered any memory loss...did she?

"Dance with me," she spoke calmly and sweetly as she lightly tugged at his shoulders to move with her.

"Huh?" he responded dumbly.

"Don't you hear the music? It's a slow dance right now."

Roxas blinked before closing his eyes and focusing on the sounds around him. Just as she'd said, he could hear a slow sweet melody drifting out from the crack in the door.

"Oh," he quietly murmured as his feet began to fall into step with Weiss's. "So it is."

Opening his eyes he saw Weiss staring at him with a deep and intense gaze giving him a look he'd never seen her use before. His mind immediately thought back to the time Emerald had approached him just before he'd left with Ruby for...something. She gave him the same look Weiss was giving as she drew closer to him, positioning her head so that her lips were just at his ears.

"I wanted this to be perfect you know," she softly whispered in his ear. "I didn't want a single distraction to get in the way. Then Blake came to you with her plan and you told me about yours and well…" she sighed, shaking her head. "It just didn't feel like the right time anymore."

 _The right time for what?_ he thought to himself as he awkwardly placed his hands just above her hips replicating how he'd seen other students conduct this dance earlier.

"I initially thought to scrap the idea and wait for another night, but it didn't take long to realize that I don't have that luxury. Based on what you're telling me...we may not _get_ another moment like this one."

 _Another moment like this one…_

Without warning Roxas's mind blanked again as he was pulled back to the running river with Ruby sitting beside him with a nervous look on her face.

" _ **He said…" she began before gulping. "That the breach made him realize… that had something happened to him…he might not have gotten the chance to tell…a girl… that he um, well." Ruby gulped again, nervousness clearly present as she continued, "That he had feelings for her."**_

The boy was abruptly pulled back to the present as Weiss said, "It's not perfect. But considering the fact that in just a few days time Blake plans to throw all of us into the thick of things, well, I may never get a second chance to truly express to you how I feel."

" _ **Huh," Roxas responded chewing on his lip. "And that gave you an idea?"**_

 _ **Ruby shot him a raised eyebrow. "Yes. It um. It made me realize that I should… probably do the same."**_

Roxas could feel his heart begin to beat a mile a minute as he heard Weiss's words. It was becoming clearer to him now what her message to him was, what that look was about, but he felt stunned in place unable to respond. His thoughts were divided between what was going on then and what happened in the past creating a mishmash of thoughts, none of which were comprehensible. His eyes were wide, his cheeks red whether this was due to the memories flooding back to him or what Weiss was telling him her feelings.

Weiss was staring him in the eyes now, her face red, her eyes full of determination.

"I know that this is all new to you Roxas. I know that you probably don't quite understand what I'm telling you. But-"

"No, I do." Roxas stammered, slowly nodding his head. "I-I get it, I think."

A bright smile pulled at Weiss's lips. "Is that right?"

Roxas slowly nodded struggling to clear his mind from all the rampant thoughts flooding through it. It was like two sides of him were roaring at him to take action; the side of him who remembered, and the side of him who didn't. The former was screaming at him to pull away, that he was about to do something that he'd regret, while his other half was telling him the opposite, that this was good, that this was right.

 _What am I supposed to do right now!?_

He yelled at himself internally as Weiss began to speak, her voice sheepish and slow. "So...do you understand when I tell you that I have feelings for you? Feelings that are... _more_...than just friendship?" Weiss's face was full of worry, full of insecurity and fear. She was offering her heart to the boy and didn't know if he would accept it, or dismiss it.

"I…think so…" he said with uncertainty. A part of him did know what she was telling him. He knew it was a big deal, that this was something that had to be handled delicately. He knew he needed to formulate a response, a decision to either accept or reject these feelings, but he had no clue which to choose.

 _Why is everything so fuzzy right now?_

He thought to himself as Weiss asked, "So...do you think...that you feel the same about me?"

" _ **So…" Roxas began again, this time at a whisper, "You…you have 'feelings' for me?"**_

" _ **I…do." Ruby slowly nodded, still not meeting his eye.**_

 _ **Roxas paused, looking out towards the water before looking back, "What does that mean exactly?"**_

Roxas felt himself pull back to the present, his mind blanking on a response as he stared back at Weiss's nervous expression. He needed to give her a response now and he knew it. His mind spacing on forming a good one, he decided that honesty would be the best way to go.

"I...dunno." He began feeling a little queasy. "I can't seem to think straight right now, my mind keeps flooding with memories and thoughts and I don't know what to listen to anymore." He sighed as he looked down breaking eye contact with the girl, "I wish I had an answer for you right now, but it's all so fuzzy that I can't make sense of how I'm feeling anymore…I can't seem to be able to decide on anything."

Silence fell between them as Roxas kept his head down doing his best to try and think through his dilemma while his stomach was doing repeated backflips. He felt like he was doing the wrong thing and the right thing at the same time, like he had two choices but didn't know what the other choice _was_.

Before long he felt Weiss's slender fingers softly raise his chin so that he was eye level with her again. The nervousness she'd previously exhibited had fallen away replaced by a look of sheer determination.

"Well, if you're struggling to find an answer. Maybe this will make things simpler for you."

Before he could react, before he could even respond, she closed the distance between them, pulling her lips to his as her fingers wrapped around the back of his head pulling him in.

 _ **Roxas felt Ruby's shoulders tense before they slowly eased, and suddenly, the boy felt the girl's slender fingers running through his wet hair pulling him deeper into the kiss. He felt his hands wanting to reach up to do the same with hers.**_

Her lips were sweet as they pushed against his own, warm but cool at the same time with a layer of lip gloss giving them a sleek and sweet affect. His senses were screaming at him all different messages, his mind so clustered with rivaling emotions that he found himself unable to move, unable to think, unable to pull away or even sink deeper into the kiss. He was frozen stiff, his eyes wide and unblinking as he was pulled away from the moment yet again.

 _ **Her lips were soft and slippery from the water as his eyes closed, his senses numbing themselves so that the only thing he could feel were her lips pressed against his; her fingers in his hair as his fingers ran through her own.**_

His senses slammed him back into reality as he could hear the distant sound of music behind him combined with voices chatting and laughing together as they continued to appreciate the event. His eyes were wide taking in every aspect of the world around him to the most minute details. The small chips in paint on the railing, the slight wisps of clouds in the night sky blocking out some of the stars and giving the night a smokey effect. It was as if all of his senses had been magnified in response to the kiss. His fingers tingled with anticipation as Roxas's mind rapidly began firing off theories as to what he was experiencing in the moment. One of which was the realization that he felt like he was doing something wrong, that his senses were alerting him because he felt like he was about to be caught, or at least the prospect of being caught by _anyone_ was enough to send waves of panic to all of his sensations. He felt like he was in the heat of battle, his heart racing, his legs jittering from his fight or flight response kicking in.

The moment of clarity was gone a second later as his mind retreated into itself once again to experience what felt like new and familiar all at the same time.

 _ **The world around him seemed to fall away, the sound of rushing water only a few feet away seemed so distant as it's wet splashes seemed miles away. The wind which had been previously drying his clothes mere moments ago had seemingly stopped in its entirety so as to not interrupt this single moment.**_

He'd nearly lost all sense of time when his mind returned once more. He could tell it was still night out from the sky and stars. The dance was still going on behind him from the echoing sounds of music, but if he'd been forced in that moment to tell someone how long he'd been standing there in that moment, he would have stared blankly at them.

He remained motionless as Weiss pulled back, a bright blush on her face as she smiled sweetly at him. "So…" she began, slowly studying his stunned expression for some type of response. "Do you think that helped you make up your mind?"

 _ **Roxas felt like an eternity had passed when they finally pulled away from each other.**_

 _ **He had to admit, he wouldn't have minded spending another eternity enveloped by those lips.**_

 _ **When he pulled away, taking a deep breath of air, he realized that the swirling mass of uncertainty and fear in his mind was gone.**_

 _ **His head was clear.**_

Despite the feelings of his former memory, his mind was anything _but_ clear. He stood motionless and dumb as his mind began to piece together the rest of that night with Ruby. He remembered Roman, Demyx and Neo standing at the top of the hill looking down at them. He recalled the fight. He remembered watching as Neo plunged a blade into Ruby's chest...and he remembered pushing everything he had left in him towards healing the girl before it was too late.

"...Roxas?" Weiss's voice echoed out as she reached out to grasp his shoulder. Before she could however, instinct took over and Roxas found himself pulling away from the girl taking several steps away before he felt his back collide with the door.

Roxas felt himself blink once, looking over his shoulder to examine the door before immediately returning his attention to Weiss.

The look on her face made Roxas's stomach drop.

Her eyes were both wide and scared interwoven with a combination of confusion and hurt. He could see a slight tremble in her bottom lip as she stared lost into his eyes. He could see that she didn't understand, that she couldn't figure out what she'd done wrong. She looked like someone who's world had just been shattered and she was trying her best to pick up all the pieces.

"R-Roxas?" she stammered out repeating herself and studying him, searching for an answer in his face to explain why he was looking at her that way. There was still a sliver of hope in her tone, a hope that was desperately clinging to the idea that he pulled away on accident, that he'd made a simple mistake due to being bewildered by the exchange.

"I-I'm sorry," she began softly, her feet slowly approaching him like a person approaching a nervous dog for the first time. "I, I didn't mean to freak you out, honestly. I- I just thought that- I,"

Her voice trailed off as Roxas pulled his head to the side shutting his eyes in a tight grimace. His lips had formed a thin frown as his hands tightened into fists.

Weiss froze as she saw this, her eyes lingering on his hands before she asked, "W-What's wrong Roxas? C-Can we just talk about this for a second?"

Roxas felt like his head was going to explode as his mind raced to come to some sort of answer, some sort of conclusion in response to everything he'd just learned. His mind raced round and round before he realized that it was all too much as his breathing began to quicken and his chest began to pound louder.

"...I...I…!" He slowly began to stammer as he tried to think of what he needed to say, of what he needed to do in this situation. Despite this desire, none of his thoughts would agree with each other. The moment he began to think one thing another thought would form that took the other side of the argument.

 _I should walk up to her._

 _ **I should stay still until I know what's going on.**_

 _She's scared right now, I can see it in her face._

 _ **I'm scared right now too. I could make it worse.**_

 _I should tell her that it's alright._

 _ **But it's not alright, I'm not alright.**_

 _I should say something, anything_

 _ **But what would you say?**_

 _I need to find someone who can help me make sense of all this._

 _ **But who?**_

 _I need to find Ruby._

 _ **I need to find Ruby.**_

Roxas's eyes flashed open wide as the thought raced through his head, the only thought that wasn't being challenged, the only thought that made any sense in that moment. He didn't know what he wanted to say to her or even what he would do when he found her, but it was all he could think to do in that moment.

Looking at the girl in front of him staring back at him with a distraught look full of sorrow, of anxiety, and most of all _fear_ , he couldn't think of what he could do to make her feel better in that moment. He knew he wanted to, or at least, he figured he should, but his mind was too cluttered to do that now.

There were only two words that he could muster as he stood there on that balcony facing her.

"...I'm sorry," he said before turning on his heel and dashing through the crack in the door. He heard Weiss's voice pleading his name as he raced down the steps but soon the upbeat dance music had drowned out the sound of her voice.

 _I need to find Ruby. Where is she? Is she here?_

His thoughts sounded like they were playing through speakers as they echoed in his mind. His head turned like a swivel rapidly scanning the room for a familiar set of silver eyes accompanied by raven black hair.

To his dismay, none of the party goers fit that description.

 _Where is she!? Shouldn't she be here?_

His eyes scanned the room a second time to no avail. However, he did catch a familiar set of blonde hair that drew his attention.

 _Yang!_

He felt a slight smile pulling at his lips as his feet began to rapidly carry him towards her.  
 _She'll know where Ruby is._

As he neared the older girl he could see that she was wearing a simply designed white dress talking to Pyrrha who was wearing a vibrant form fitting red dress that complimented her hair beautifully.

"Yang!" he exclaimed, realizing that he was out of breath. Both of the girls turned and looked at him with furrowed brows.

"Roxas? Are you feeling alright?" Pyrrha asked with a frown.

"Just fine," he responded flatly before turning back to Yang, "I need your help!"

Yang frowned as she crossed her arms staring daggers into the boy. "I'm not gonna help you go out with Weiss. Sorry, but I just can't."

Yang turned back to resume her conversation with Pyrrha but Roxas reached out and grabbed her shoulder before she could.

"Yang," he repeated in a serious tone.

The girl responded by looking over her shoulder with a piercing gaze, "I already told you that-"

"I **remember** Yang!" he said cutting her off, "I remember **everything**!"

Yang's eyes narrowed in confusion before widening with realization. A bright smile spread from her cheeks as she understood. "Is that right?" she asked with a knowing grin.

Ignoring the look she was giving him he blurted out, "I need to find Ruby, do you know where she is?"

Yang's smile fell some as she paused in thought. After a few seconds of chewing on her bottom lip she responded, "She's in the Forever Fall Forest. She said she didn't want to come so she and-"

Roxas had already taken off before she could finish her sentence, weaving through the crowds of students occupying the dance floor and ignoring the sea of 'Hey!' and 'Watch it!' he received in response.

Before he reached the doors he felt a hand grab his elbow prompting him to turn on his heel. Looking over his shoulder he was met with a concerned looking Namine with confusion in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" she asked in bewilderment.

Roxas felt a wave of answers hit him. All of them competing to be the one that he used to respond. His mind raced to choose one, but as he ran through them he knew that a proper explanation would take too long, and he didn't have that time.

"Weiss is on the balcony...I think she'll need someone to talk to."

As he said this he pulled his arm away, his legs bursting with energy as he rushed towards the door in a sprint. Reaching the door he did his best to push his thoughts of Weiss and Namine down, refocusing his mind towards his goal.

 _She's in the Forever Fall Forest,_ he thought to himself as he burst through the double doors and took off in a sprint through the school yard.

 _I need to find her!_

* * *

 _ **AN:**_

 _Well this has taken quite a while to complete now hasn't it? I hope that the length of this chapter along with the release of the previous bonus chapter was enough to satisfy some of you for the time being because I am pooped! It took a lot out of me to try and deliver this chapter to you all. I don't know if you'll believe me but initially there was suppose to be another 2 extra scenes to this chapter before it came to an end, but considering the impact of their scenes and the number of pages it would take to complete them… we might be looking at a chapter at 60 pages instead of just the 40 XD. That being said the following chapter has already been planned out but I doubt it will be anywhere near the length of this chapter (although who knows at this point, seems I'm just writing more and more.) There's a lot planned for what's coming and I hope you all are looking forward to it just as much as I am!_

 _That's about all I have to say for now. Like always all reviews will be responded to via PM so please! Drop a review if you'd enjoy chatting with yours truly! And don't forget to sing Shiloh some praise while you're at it! This is a 40 page document that she had to go through line by line cleaning up my mistakes so you can imagine that taking a lot of work._

 _That being said, take it away Shiloh!_

 _Hey guys! Shiloh here! As RoxaShadow has said before, this was A LOT of material to go through. So much was happening in this chapter that I had to make our writer stop so that he wouldn't try to work himself to death and drag me with him DX I also want to announce that RoxaShadow and I have decided that it would be best to put the omake on hold. Now I know I promised we'd put in the omake and you're all wondering why we didn't do so. Well...let's just say that after what happened between Roxas Weiss, I don't think it would be wise to add oil to the fire. Plus it would be very awkward since it looks like things are going south and putting in a comedic omake after a serious event in the main chapter wouldn't exactly feel proper. But if things go according to plan for RoxaShadow, we should be able to upload it with the next chapter since some events should cool down a little. Until then, though, I would kindly ask that you all let him rest so that he can be able to regain some energy to write the next chapter. I greatly appreciate all your support and patience to me and to RoxaShadow and I hope to see you all again soon :)_


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